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THE PREPS : ROUNDUP : Huntington Beach Displays Power in Volleyball Event

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

If the Orange County/Southern California tournament was any indication, there should be much parity this season in girls’ volleyball. That is, if you take Huntington Beach out of the equation.

Top-seeded Huntington Beach took 50 minutes to defeat second-seeded Mater Dei, 15-7, 15-2, in the final Saturday at Edison High.

The Oilers, who advanced to the Southern Section Division I semifinals and to the State Division II final last season, are the favorite in the state this season.

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The Oilers effectively shut down the Monarchs’ best player, outside hitter Roberta Gehlke, with a dominating block.

“We just said, ‘tighten up that block,’ ” said Cammy Ciarelli, Huntington Beach co-coach. “All of a sudden [we took] the air out of their big balloon.”

Gehlke, a Southern Section Division I second-team selection last season, had six kills.

Mater Dei seemed to deflate after losing the first game in the best-of-three game match. Trailing, 4-2, in the second game, Huntington Beach scored 11 consecutive points to win the championship. Gehlke had the Monarchs’ only kill in the second game.

Huntington Beach was led by 6-foot-2 senior outside hitter Melissa Wendt, a Southern Section Division I first-team selection last season who had seven kills. Dana Atkinson also had five kills for the Oilers.

It was the first Orange County/Southern California girls’ tournament trophy that Ciarelli and her co-coach and husband, Rocky, have won in their five years with the Oiler girls’ team.

The Ciarellis watched as their two nieces, setter Allison Ciarelli and outside hitter Keely Ziegler, contributed much to the Oiler attack.

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In the first game, the Oilers broke out of a 6-6 tie and outscored the Monarchs, 9-1, including the final five points of the game.

In the semifinals, Huntington Beach defeated Dana Hills, 15-13, 15-11, and Mater Dei defeated Newport Harbor, 15-12, 15-7, in a come-from-behind victory. The Monarchs trailed, 12-4, before scoring 11 consecutive points in the first game and also trailed, 5-2, in the second game before outscoring the Sailors, 13-5, to advance to the final.

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In the Century tournament:

Orange Lutheran 2, Laguna Hills 0--Orange Lutheran captured the championship with a 15-11, 15-3 victory over Laguna Hills. Kristi Pearson of Orange Lutheran was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

In the Long Beach Millikan boys’ water polo tournament:

Villa Park 7, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake 6--Villa Park won a tournament championship for the first time since 1982. Peter Cornue scored two goals and was named tournament MVP.

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