THE PREPS : VOLLEYBALL / SUNSET LEAGUE : Fountain Valley’s Victory Over Oilers Is Worth Wait

It took four years, but for the seniors on the Fountain Valley boys’ volleyball team, a 15-13, 15-5, 10-15, 17-15 victory over No. 1 ranked Huntington Beach was worth the wait.

Senior Chris Kosty had 12 of his 23 kills in Game 4 and senior setter Kurt Seckington had 60 assists, 13 digs and four blocks to lead the Barons (10-2, 5-1 in league), ranked third in Orange County, to a Sunset League victory Friday at Fountain Valley High.

“This means the world to them,” Fountain Valley Coach Lori Biller said. “They’ve never beaten Huntington Beach, not even as freshmen or at the JV level. This was a huge hurdle. They made the plays when they had to.”

Huntington Beach (10-1, 5-1) beat Fountain Valley twice last season on its way to a second consecutive Southern Section Division I championship and it also rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to beat the Barons in five games earlier this season.

“We didn’t want the same thing to happen,” Seckington said, “and we wanted to end this one in four. Everyone played with all their hearts.”

A faulty heart kept one of the Barons, all-league middle blocker Dave Arvesen, out of the lineup. Biller said Arvesen will miss the remainder of the season because of a recently diagnosed heart condition, similar to the one that sidelined his twin brother, Mike, during basketball season.

“My first thought was that it was going to be extremely hard because Mike is a great player and leader on this team,” Seckington said. “But Jeff Hardin (four kills) stepped in and did great tonight.

“We’ve got six guys who can do it all. So missing one-sixth won’t make or break us.”

Seckington kept Huntington Beach guessing on the big points because everyone was producing.

Seniors Ed Ratledge, who had 19 kills, Phil Domingo, who had 16 kills and Brian Myers, who had 10 kills and 15 digs, all helped Fountain Valley take the early lead.

Huntington Beach tried to rally behind Jeremy Bart and Jody Cook-Fisher. Bart finished with 20 kills, 16 digs and five blocks and Cook-Fisher had 20 kills--nine in Game 4--and 23 digs.

The Oilers led, 14-12, in Game 4, but four consecutive kills by Kosty erased that lead and the Barons won the match after three consecutive Huntington Beach hitting errors.

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In another Sunset League match:

Esperanza 3, Edison 2--Jason Dillard had 18 kills and Ryan Rex had 17 kills for Esperanza (8-4, 3-3), which won, 15-3, 15-7, 11-15, 12-15, 15-8.