Huntington Beach Blocks Irvine Rally : Volleyball: Oilers, after blowing their chance for a sweep, rebound to advance to the third round.

Huntington Beach’s volleyball team wasn’t going to let this happen again .

Not another loss to Irvine. Not another Irvine rally.

After blowing a 12-6 lead in the third game and a chance to sweep, the Oilers held off a Vaquero comeback in the fifth game for a 15-13, 15-3, 13-15, 6-15, 15-11 victory Tuesday in a Southern Section 4-A second-round match at Irvine.

The Oilers (18-2) avenged a five-game loss to Irvine in last year’s second round and advanced to the quarterfinals against third-seeded Loyola.

“This is as far as Huntington has been in the playoffs,” Oiler Coach Rocky Ciarelli said. “We just seem to have bad luck in the playoffs. Maybe it’s the ancient Indian burial ground on our campus.”

Middle blockers Claud Doumerc and Jeff Vanderwal led the Oilers with 22 and 16 kills, respectively. They each added five blocks.

Outside hitters Troy Wooten (15 kills) and Greg Reitz (13 kills) rounded out a balanced Huntington Beach attack. Setter Chris Jones had 75 assists and seven kills.

But it was Vanderwal, who’s headed to UC Santa Barbara on a volleyball scholarship, who the Oilers relied on late in the fifth game.

With Huntington Beach leading, 12-8, Vanderwal had two big blocks to push it to match point, 14-10. A kill by Doumerc ended the match.

Doumerc delivered early in the match, pounding the final two kills of the first game to give the Oilers a 15-13 victory.

In the second game, the Oilers had five blocks for points, including two each by Vanderwal and Reitz, and forced five Irvine hitting errors.

But Irvine came back in the third game, rallying from a 12-6 deficit to tie it, 13-13. Hitting errors by Vanderwal and Reitz accounted for Irvine’s winning points.

Irvine figured out Huntington Beach’s blocking by the fourth game. Chris Swanner had eight kills and Evan Itzkowitz came off the bench for two aces for the Vaqueros, who built an 11-5 lead on their way to forcing a fifth game.

Greg Wakeham had 24 kills, and Brady Hamilton and Swanner added 22 each for Irvine (16-2). Setter Jason Mickartz had 82 assists for the Vaqueros.