Volleyball Playoff Pairings Hard for Some to Swallow

Dana Hills’ gain was an unexpected, shattering loss for Fountain Valley.

After the Southern California girls’ volleyball playoff pairings were announced Sunday, Fountain Valley Coach Mike Hinton found out the Barons, the Southern Section Division II runners-up to champion Los Alamitos, didn’t make the regional Division I eight-team draw.

“I’m really upset,” Hinton said Sunday night. “This is the first time a Division II runner-up hasn’t made it. We worked really hard to make State. This is hard to swallow.”

Five Division I teams are from the county: Division I champion Corona del Mar (top-seeded), runner-up Newport Harbor, semifinalists Laguna Beach and Dana Hills and Division II titlist Los Alamitos.

In Division II, Huntington Beach, a semifinalist and two-time loser to Fountain Valley in Sunset League play, earned a playoff spot. Division V champion Calvary Chapel is top-seeded in Division IV and Division VI runner-up St. Margaret’s made the Division V draw.

Because enrollment categories change at the State level, Fountain Valley could have made the playoffs only as a Division I representative. Huntington Beach’s enrollment is under the Division II limit of 1,499.

“Dana Hills gets in because of the strength of Division I and Huntington gets in on the technicality of being three people under in enrollment,” Hinton said. “It’s not fair.”

Dana Hills Coach Mike Hurlbut said he spent part of Friday making calls, including one to El Toro’s Sheri Ross, the tournament director, to plead the Dolphins’ case.

“I did some serious lobbying,” Hurlbut said. “I guess sometimes it’s really not what you know or how good you are, but who you know. . . . I pledged to the girls I’d do everything I could to get us in. I hope we make the best of it.”

Dana Hills plays at San Diego Section Division I champion Poway--once top-ranked in the state.