Edison moves into second-place tie in Sunset League with sweep at Los Alamitos

The Edison High boys’ volleyball team arrived at Los Alamitos sure that it was in for a fight.

In their first meeting with the Griffins, the Chargers had to go to five sets to pull out the victory. As momentous as that win was, it would have meant little without the other half.

Still short of a .500 record, Edison desperately needed to complete the Sunset League sweep of the Griffins to position itself for one of the league’s three automatic playoff bids.

The Chargers were the steadier of the teams from start to finish, and they came away with a 25-20, 25-19, 25-19 win on Thursday night to move into a second-place tie in the league. Edison shares second with Huntington Beach at 5-2.

“This was a huge game,” said Edison junior outside hitter James Carpenter, who had a team-high nine kills to go with two blocks. “The whole team is super-stoked. We’re going to be hopefully getting a good seed in [the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs].”

Carpenter added that he expected the Griffins (16-10, 3-4 in league) to come out with a chip on their shoulder after dropping a close match in the teams’ first league contest, but he noted that his team was up to the challenge.

“We really came out with a lot of energy and played a tough game,” he said. “I really think that everybody came out to win.”

Edison (10-11 overall) has opened up a two-match lead over the Griffins with three remaining. The Chargers will play host to Newport Harbor (24-0, 7-0), the top-ranked team in the nation by MaxPreps.com, in their next match on Tuesday.

Edison junior outside hitter Caden Satterfield had seven kills, and senior middle blocker Trevor McKay had five kills and 3½ blocks.

After taking a look at Cole Power as a setter, the Chargers sent the junior UCLA commit back to libero. Combined with the efforts of senior defensive specialist Matt Palma, Edison managed to limit the impact of Los Alamitos’ big hitters like junior outside hitter Jake Maffett (nine kills) and senior opposite Bryce Thompson (eight kills).

If the Chargers were in need of any help settling into a big match on the road, they received help from the Griffins. Half of the first 14 points recorded in the match by Edison came via Los Alamitos service errors.

Junior setter Niko Boone also put his stamp on the match in the early going. He had 17 assists and 2½ blocks. In addition, three of his four kills came in the first set.

“I just wanted to give my team as much energy as possible,” Boone said. “I thought if I brought a more offensive approach, it would probably open up my hitters.”

Chargers coach Matt Skolnik spoke of the benefits to having Boone in the front row, saying, “He does give us some size up there blocking-wise. He did a good job of distributing the ball, and he ran the offense very well tonight.

“It’s nice having a big left hand up there to throw down some balls when we need him to.”

Skolnik praised the second-effort plays made by his team. One in particular stood out.

In the third set, junior opposite Justin Pennington had his swing blocked. As the ball headed down to the floor, Pennington kicked out his right leg and successfully booted the ball over to the other side of the net.

Los Alamitos did not get the ball back over, and the point gave the Chargers a 17-13 lead as they looked to finish off the Griffins.

“They say that the harder you play, the luckier you get,” Skolnik said. “We’re proud of the boys for the way that they played. You go that hard and you want it that much, you do get some lucky plays, and some balls do bounce your way.”

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner