Reseda Buries Bell in 90 Minutes to Win 3-A Volleyball Title

The Bell High Eagles are the Minnesota Vikings of City Section volleyball.

They can’t win the big one.

Three times in three years Bell has been to the City 3-A Division boys’ volleyball final, and three times it has gone home the bridesmaid.

Reseda did the honors Friday at UCLA’s John Wooden Center, ousting the Eagles in four games for the second consecutive year. The scores: 15-12, 11-15, 15-3, 15-3.

Unlike last year’s match, which took 2 1/2 hours, this one was over quickly, lasting a mere 90 minutes.

“It was awful. The third and fourth games, we stunk,” Bell Coach Mike Mayfield said. “Reseda has a great player. It would be interesting to see how they would do without the superstar.”

Mayfield was referring to Reseda’s senior hitter, Coley Kyman, who this time last year was in a hospital recovering from spinal meningitis. Kyman had a match-leading 24 kills and celebrated nearly every one with a war whoop and by raising his fist and prancing around the court.

“I’m happy as hell,” Kyman said. “I wanted to win it for my teammates this year.”

Kyman recorded seven kills in the first game as Reseda (16-2) built a 13-7 lead, saw Bell (19-2) close to within 14-12, then won the game on the second game-point when the Eagles’ Carlos Arroyo set the ball over the net and out of bounds.

Kyman had eight more kills in game two, but Reseda lost an 11-9 lead when Bell scored the final six points of the game to even the match.

“We had a lot of breakdowns in that second game,” Reseda Coach Bob Berrenson said.

But the Regents came back strongly in game three behind Kyman and senior Scott Kent, who was playing with a bad back. The Regents went ahead, 7-1, and coasted the rest of the way, clinching the win when Joe Kretchet stuffed Cesar Uballe’s spike for a point.

“It was like my guys thought, ‘Well, we won a game, let’s go home,’ ” Mayfield said. “They packed it in.”

Indeed, the fourth game was more of the same as Reseda took a 5-0 lead. Kyman added five kills in the game and Kent three, and the Regents sealed Bell’s fate on the first match point when the Eagles were cited for a net fault.

“It went by so fast,” Berrenson said. “Last year was a nail biter for 2 1/2 hours and we were prepared for the same thing tonight.

“They were pumped up. They’ve played like that all year.”

In addition to his spikes, Kyman had 11 blocks to lead Reseda.

Kent finished with 10 kills and seven blocks, Kretchet added eight kills for the Regents, and Kyman’s twin, Bobby, had seven kills.