SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION I VOLLEYBALL : Santa Margarita Upsets Laguna Beach

Santa Margarita upset third-seeded Laguna Beach in the first round of the Division I Southern Section volleyball playoffs with a 17-15, 7-15, 15-10, 15-6 victory Friday at Laguna Beach.

Laguna Beach (15-2), ranked No. 1 in the county, was without star player Dan Styles, who was declared academically ineligible last week.

Santa Margarita (10-9), who earned an at-large berth, was led by Russell Swarts with 17 kills. Trey Nelson added 15 kills and Ryan Wesierski had 56 assists. Santa Margarita will play host to No. 6 San Clemente Tuesday.

In other Division I matches:

Capistrano Valley 3, El Toro 1--Momentum shifted like the wind early in the match. Luckily for Capistrano Valley, it tilted in its favor down the stretch.

Host Capistrano Valley defeated El Toro, 15-13, 15-12, 10-15, 15-13. The Cougars advance to play Huntington Beach in the second round Tuesday.

The Cougars (12-5) used a potent jump serve and strong blocking at the net to keep the Chargers off balance.

“We have not been jump serving much all year, but we worked on it this week and I think that was a key to the match,” Capistrano Valley Coach Darren Utterback said.

The Chargers, who defeated the Cougars earlier in the season, were not at full strength with senior setter Steve Nelson playing despite mononucleosis.

“I knew if we couldn’t take care of them in three games, we were in trouble,” Charger Coach Mike Jagd said.

The Cougars grabbed a quick 4-0 lead in the first game and extended it to 14-7 before El Toro made its first run. A pair of net calls and two ball handling errors brought the Chargers to 14-13, but Scott Lister provided a block to finish the game.

El Toro jumped to an 11-6 lead in Game 2, but Capistrano Valley tied the score, 12-12, on Lister’s kill.

After El Toro’s Matt Mauney hit into the net and Mike Tully followed with a kill, Bill Coblentz couldn’t handle Omar Rawi’s serve for game point.

The Chargers (10-10) broke open the third game with five consecutive points after the teams were tied, 10-10. Coblentz won it when he fired a spike off the Cougar block.

The Cougars took over early in Game 4 by taking a 10-3 lead, but El Toro worked the score back to 14-13. Andy Matlaf then ended the two-hour match with a stuff block on Zack Humphrey.

Tully led the Cougars with 15 kills and Coblentz had 16 for the Chargers.