Style Points Lead Laguna Beach Past Capistrano Valley

Even with its top player serving a two-week suspension for disciplinary reasons, the Laguna Beach volleyball team still won in style Tuesday night.

Freshman Dan Styles, playing in place of suspended Chris Seale, had 12 kills and two aces as Laguna Beach upset Capistrano Valley, 15-8, 15-10, 15-6, in a nonleague match at Laguna Beach.

“The freshman was awesome tonight,” Laguna Beach Coach Michael Soylular said. “With Seale out of the lineup, we thought we would miss a lot on offense and passing. But Dan played well and passed every ball.”

The Artists (3-2) needed only an hour to hand Capistrano Valley its first loss of the season. Eric Fegraus added 14 kills and three aces for Laguna Beach, ranked sixth in Orange County.

Aaron Garcia had eight kills to lead third-ranked Capistrano Valley (4-1).

Soylular wasn’t sure how his team would respond to the suspension of Seale, who had violated a team rule. But the Artists, led by Fegraus and Styles, never let Capistrano Valley in the match.

Laguna Beach trailed only once, early in the second game. And the Artists regularly served to Garcia, a 6-foot-3 junior with outstanding power, and kept him from dominating the match.

“We had to do that to tire him out,” Soylular said. “He’s their bread-and-butter player.”