Torrey Pines Wins a Laugher

Laughter may not always be the best medicine, but Torrey Pines gave a healthy argument for the prescription Tuesday night against San Dieguito.

Down two games and trailing by seven points in the third, the Torrey Pines boys’ volleyball team turned a timeout into 60 seconds of comic relief and a victory.

The top-ranked Falcons defeated San Dieguito, 13-15, 11-15, 15-13, 15-13, 15-12, in a Palomar League contest at San Dieguito.

So what was so funny to Torrey Pines?

“I don’t remember,” said senior Bill Scuba, who had 11 kills for Torrey Pines. “It wasn’t just one thing. This is a fun team. We like to play our matches having a good time. If we get too intense, we don’t play well.”

So Torrey Pines (2-1, 2-0) got its passing game going, started communicating better and cut back on the mistakes that plagued it through two games.

“We were just warming up,” Torrey Pines Coach Dan Lyman said with a laugh. “No, honestly though. We’ve only had two matches. It’s early, I still don’t have a set lineup and it was the first match for Scot.”

That would be Scot Pollard, the 6-foot-11 player who was a significant contributor on the Torrey Pines basketball team that won the San Diego Section Division II title. But Pollard is as much a menace on the volleyball court, and is one of five players who have made the transition. Against 10th-ranked and scrappy San Dieguito, Pollard had a team leading 12 kills.

Pollard’s central role was as a middle blocker, where he would combine with one of several outside hitters to form a roof to fend off San Dieguito’s offense. He ripped several balls down the middle during the key comeback moments, and left San Dieguito defenseless. Peter Bates, who shared time in the middle with Pollard, did the same.

It was a blast up the middle by Pollard that gave the Falcons their first lead of the match, 12-11, in the third game. Torrey Pines finished the game off with a left-side kill off a block by Justin Fornal (10 kills). Torrey Pines controlled the fourth game more than the score indicated, and the tone continued into the fifth, but San Dieguito kept digging back.

The Mustangs (1-4, 1-2) turned a 12-5 Falcon lead into a tie, before Torrey Pines reeled off the remaining three points.

“You have to give them credit,” Lyman said. “San Dieguito had a chance to fold in that fifth game, but they didn’t.”

Despite a powerful effort from outside hitter Ben Moselle, who finished with 24 kills, the Mustangs were still trying to figure out how they let a two-game lead slip away. No one was more perplexed than San Dieguito Coach John Ragan.

“I have no idea what happened,” he said. “We lost in five games to Uni (USDHS), too. Anytime you go five games, the better team should shine through. Dig down deep. I don’t know if practices aren’t hard enough, or if there’s something we’re not doing to mentally set up. I have to talk to the captain about it.”

Although still early in the season, defending 3-A Section champion Torrey Pines becomes the early front runner with victories over No. 3 Mt. Carmel and the Mustangs. Still on the schedule are two meetings with No. 4 Poway, which defeated San Dieguito in three games last week.