SOUTHERN SECTION VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Mira Costa Sweeps Past Edison for Title

Edison High School’s hopes for its first Southern Section 4-A boys’ volleyball title went down quietly Saturday night.

Mira Costa ended Edison’s 13-match winning streak with a 15-6, 15-12, 15-11 victory at Marina High School. The championship was Mira Costa’s second in the past seven years.

Mira Costa (18-0) has handed Edison (17-2) its only defeats this season. The Mustangs won a five-game, three-hour match at Edison in March.

But Edison did little Saturday night against the Mustangs, winners of 39 of their last 40 matches over the past two seasons and ranked No. 1 nationally by Volleyball Monthly.

“They didn’t take us out of our game but they played extremely well,” Edison Coach Brian Rofer said. “They put up a big block.”

Mira Costa Coach Mike Cook said the key to the Mustangs’ easy victory was their blocking. The Mustangs had 27 blocks, including eight by Pat Ivie and seven by David Swatik.

“The difference was we blocked tonight,” Cook said. “We didn’t have half as many blocks the first time we played Edison, and that one went five games instead of three.”

Swatik and Ivie also had seven kills each for Mira Costa. Steve Snyder had 11 kills and Karl Van Reusen and Daryl Ayers had seven each for Edison.

Cook said the victory solidified his team’s claim as the best high school volleyball team in history.

“But that’s just for one year,” he said. “This isn’t a dynasty. Laguna Beach won all those titles (five in the late 1970s and early ‘80s) but they didn’t have a team like this.”

Rofer wasn’t about to argue.

“I would have to say they’re the best high school team ever,” he said. “We have nothing to be ashamed of. Mira Costa just worked hard and played well.”

Edison, playing in its second final in the last five years, fell behind 5-0 and 11-3 in the first game.

Edison opened the second game with a 5-0 run, but Mira Costa rallied with an 11-1 streak on four kills by Mark Shoptaw and three each by Ivie and Mike Ashenfelter.

Edison came back to trim the deficit to 13-12, only to have Mira Costa win the game on consecutive hitting errors by Steve Snyder and Jason Curry.

The Chargers fell behind again early in the third game. Mira Costa raced to a 6-1 lead, but Edison, sparked by three kills and a block by Snyder, fought back to tie it at 9-9.

Mira Costa pushed ahead, 11-9, on a kill by Ashenfelter and an ace by Ivie, but Edison again rallied to tie it, 11-11.

A kill by Swatik, a hitting error by Edison’s Joe McCarthy and an ace by Ashenfelter gave Mira Costa a 14-11 lead. Brian Thurston’s ace gave the Mustangs the game, match and championship.