Mira Costa Puts On Volleyball Clinic to Win Tourney

What Saturday’s Redondo-Mira Costa Varsity Classic lacked in suspense, the Mira Costa High School boys’ volleyball team made up for in artistry.

As expected, the Mustangs, ranked No. 1 in the nation, put on a clinic in dominating the strong 29-team field. Tournament MVP David Swatik led their attack with 50 kills in 12 games.

Swatik also had 17 blocks and was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow Mustang seniors Pat Ivie (27 kills, 22 blocks) and Canyon Ceman, who had 11 kills despite being Mira Costa’s full-time setter.

Junior outside hitter Mark Shoptaw and senior middle blocker Mike Ashenfelter added 29 and 23 kills, respectively.

In the two-out-of-three-game championship match at Redondo Union High School, the Mustangs swept Brentwood, 15-6 and 15-9. Five straight points on Ashenfelter’s service closed out the first game of the match.

Mira Costa led by just three, 11-8, in the second game before pulling away.

The Mustangs’ biggest challenge of their 11-hour day of competition occurred in the quarterfinals as they came back from a 9-4 deficit to beat Woodbridge, 15-11.

A lag time of over two hours between games played a role in Mira Costa’s slow start against Woodbridge, Swatik said. “But our team always seems to start slowly,” he admitted.

The Mustangs, who will be the top seed in the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs, which start May 11, aren’t letting their lofty ranking make them overconfident, according to Swatik. He said nervousness was a more probable cause than complacency for the Mustangs’ early problems against Woodbridge.

“We lost in our first (Redondo-Mira Costa Varstiy Classic) playoff game last year,” he explained. “We were trying too hard at the beginning because we were thinking about that.”

Swatik said he is pleased with the undefeated Mustangs’ improvement over the course of the season. “Passing was our main weakness, but we’re getting a lot better because we keep working on it day after day,” he added.

But Ivie said Mira Costa can get better--much better. “I don’t think we played half as well as we can play,” he said.

Of the seven other participating South Bay teams, only Rolling Hills advanced out of pool play into the 12-team playoffs. After going 5-4 in their pool, the Titans beat Palisades, 15-2, in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Brentwood for the third time of the day, 15-11.

Redondo Union and Westchester each went 2-6. Palos Verdes, South Torrance and West Torrance each won one game.

Torrance was winless in nine games.