PREP VOLLEYBALL ROUNDUP : Laguna Beach Topples No. 1-Ranked Dana Hills in Four Games

Laguna Beach, ranked third in Orange County, upset top-ranked Dana Hills in four games Friday night in a nonleague boys’ volleyball match at Laguna Beach High. But neither coach was thrilled.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” Laguna Beach Coach Michael Soylular said after the 15-8, 15-13, 17-19, 15-3 victory. “They’re an awesome team, but maybe all this proves is that we’ll be a contender in the playoffs.”

Junior outside hitter Dan Styles had 21 kills and senior outside hitter Beau Bianchi had 20 to lead the Artists (5-0), who passed well and were able to side out consistently to frustrate Dana Hills.

Although Dana Hills Coach Oz Simmons knows the rugged early-season competition will prepare the Dolphins for a tough South Coast League season and the playoffs, he wasn’t happy with their performance.

“We’ve had two years of losing matches like this,” Simmons said. “I thought two weeks of good practices and no game-competition would be good for us, but . . . “

The Dolphins (4-1) looked ragged.

In Game 1, Laguna Beach took a 7-1 lead before Dana Hills battled back to tie it, 13-13. After a hitting error from the back row by Matt Clem, Laguna Beach setter Kurt Nelson, who had 50 assists, spiked a free ball off Bob Hefty’s block attempt for game point.

Game 2 followed the same pattern, with the Dolphins falling behind, 8-3, and the Artists closed out the game scoring points on two Dana Hills errors.

“We had a lot of unforced errors,” Simmons said. “We started blocking well in Game 3, but we weren’t doing much of anything else the rest of the night.”

But Neil Hewko had nine of his 17 kills and Clem had four of his eight blocks in Game 3 to help Dana Hills rally from a 14-10 deficit.

With the score tied, 17-17, Jeremy Darner, who had 17 kills, spiked from the left side to give Dana Hills a side out. Then Clem, who also had 18 kills, had consecutive blocks to close out the game, 19-17.

But that was the last spark Dana Hills showed.

After a hitting error by Styles closed Dana Hills within 3-2 in Game 4, the Artists scored 12 of the last 13 points.

“I don’t know why they lost the momentum,” Soylular said. “We had match-point at 14-10 and they came back. That’s the beauty of this game.”

Szilard Kovacs, a 6-foot-9 middle blocker who has signed with USC, had 13 kills and nine blocks for Laguna Beach.

In other nonleague matches:

El Modena 3, Valencia 2--Joe Reynoza had a school-record 45 kills for Valencia (4-3), which lost, 12-15, 6-15, 15-7, 15-12, 15-9. Mike Jemmett had 30 kills for El Modena (3-2). Valencia setter Matt Geissman had 75 assists.

Esperanza 3, Capistrano Valley 1--Mike Allison had 27 kills and Mark Alleman had 20 kills for ninth-ranked Esperanza (4-2), which won, 16-14, 15-9, 10-15, 15-7. Jason Klems added 16 kills for the Aztecs. Eighth-ranked Capistrano Valley is 4-2.

Villa Park 3, Aliso Niguel 2--Chris Greely had 22 kills to lead Villa Park (3-3), 14-16, 15-12, 15-12, 5-15, 15-3. Drew Wetzler had 16 kills and Jim Chou had 14 kills for the Spartans.

In the Express League:

San Marino Southwestern Academy 3, St. Margaret’s 1--Gavin Cuneo had 13 kills and Idris Nolan 26 assists for St. Margaret’s (2-4, 1-1), which lost 15-8, 15-7, 11-15, 15-11.

In the Garden Grove League:

La Quinta 3, Garden Grove 1--Kevin Doane had 18 kills for La Quinta (4-3, 3-1), which won, 15-12, 15-6, 11-15, 15-7.

In the Olympic League:

Calvary Chapel 3, Capistrano Valley Christian 1--Philip Schildts had 11 kills for 10th-ranked Calvary Chapel (5-0, 1-0), which won, 15-11, 15-8, 16-18, 15-5.

In the Sunset League:

Huntington Beach 3, Santa Ana 0--Art Huynh had four kills for fourth-ranked Huntington Beach (5-1, 4-0), which won, 15-5, 15-1, 15-1.

Marina 3, Westminster 0--Eric Endsley had eight kills for Marina (3-5, 3-1), which won, 15-4, 15-11, 15-4.