Capistrano Valley Bumps Off Top-Ranked Esperanza

The players were on the court nearly three hours and almost every game went down to the wire Thursday, when the county’s top two boys’ volleyball teams played a nonleague match at Capistrano Valley.

Capistrano Valley defeated Esperanza, 8-15, 15-12, 18-16, 11-15, 15-13, in a match that saw the momentum and the lead bobble back and forth numerous times.

“Capistrano Valley is a fine team and they just took it from us in the end,” Esperanza Coach Kurt Kersten said.

The Cougars (5-0), ranked No. 2 in the county, started slowly but were sparked by the hard-hitting Mike Tully, who had a match-high 33 kills. Ryan Thurlow had 26 and Beau Rawi 21.

The top-ranked Aztecs (5-1) were led by Kyle Anderson, who had 14 kills, and Dan Harrington, who had 12 kills despite being ill.

In a pivotal third game, Tully had 14 kills and Capistrano Valley had five game-point opportunities before Tully spiked the game winner, 18-16.

Esperanza broke out of an 11-11 tie in the fourth game and went on a 4-0 run, winning it on a block by Harrington and Jon Alleman.

The teams slugged it out to a 12-12 tie in the fifth game before an Aztec error and Cougar block by Brian Sandlin and Chris Seiffert brought up match point. The opportunity was squandered when Brad Leach hit his serve into the net.

After Esperanza saved another match point and scored on a Cougar error, Capistrano Valley won it on a kill by Ryan Thurlow that split the block of Kris Welch and Alleman.