SOUTHERN SECTION VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : Santa Barbara Silences Huntington Beach in 4-A

Huntington Beach’s volleyball team made a lot of noise in the Southern Section 4-A playoffs this year with its cardiac comebacks.

But the Oilers went down quietly Saturday night.

Santa Barbara won its first title since the Karch Kiraly era with a 15-7, 15-8, 15-10 victory in the championship match at Cerritos College.

The loss ended Huntington Beach’s streak of five-game, comeback playoff victories. In the streak, Huntington Beach rallied to beat Irvine, Los Angeles Loyola and Manhattan Beach Mira Costa.

“We’ve won a lot of emotional matches,” Huntington Beach Coach Rocky Ciarelli said. “We were a little drained after the last two weeks. We can only ask so much of these kids.”

It was Santa Barbara’s first title since 1978, when Kiraly, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a top pro beach player, was a member of the Dons.

Steve Couvillion had 20 kills and Matt Renshaw, who has signed with Stanford, added 55 assists for unseeded Santa Barbara (19-2).

“No one has had an answer for Matt or Steve all year,” Santa Barbara Coach Bob Moore said. “People around Santa Barbara are asking if Renshaw is the next Karch Kiraly. I coached Karch and there are a lot of similarities between the two--the same size, drive and mental attitude.”

Jeff VanderWal had 16 kills and Claude Doumerc added 16 for Huntington Beach (20-3).

Huntington Beach got off to an awful start, falling behind, 10-1, in the first game. The Oilers, sparked by Doumerc’s six kills, cut it to 11-7, but two Huntington Beach hitting errors, a net violation and a block by Guigliano ended the game.

“We started out really bad,” Ciarelli said, “but we started playing well at the end of the first game and we were consistent for a while in the second game.”

The Oilers got off to a better start in the second game, leading 5-1, but Santa Barbara rallied to tie it, 6-6.

Then Couvillion took over.

He had three kills, two blocks and an ace as Santa Barbara scored nine of the next 11 points. Couvillion had 10 kills in the game.

In the third game, Huntington Beach erased a 7-4 deficit to tie it, 9-9, but Santa Barbara went on a 6-1 run to end the match.

“I thought we were going to be ready to play tonight,” Ciarelli said. “Things just didn’t work out right for us.”

Despite the loss, Ciarelli was pleased with the season. The Oilers struggled early, losing in the first round at the Orange County championships, a tournament they won the two previous years.

Huntington Beach ended the regular season with victories over Fountain Valley, Edison and San Marcos before the playoffs.

“It has been an unbelievable season,” Ciarelli said. “Not too many people can say they’ve beaten teams like Irvine, Loyola and Mira Costa.”