Oilers Stay in Control, Win Their First Title

Power will get you only so far in girls’ volleyball. Power laced with control can take you all the way.

Huntington Beach proved this Saturday at Cypress College, when it defeated top-seeded Santa Barbara, 15-11, 15-6, 11-15, 15-8, in the Division II-AA final to win the school’s first Southern Section girls’ volleyball championship.

It was the Oiler girls’ first appearance in a Southern Section final, and it came the year after they were heavily favored to win.

The Oilers lost several big hitters to graduation after losing in the Division I quarterfinals last year, but several players stepped up to replace them this season. More importantly, this year’s squad has superior passing skills.

“I think last year we could have won it, too, but maybe [the loss] was supposed to happen. We might have taken it for granted [last year] and this year we went hard for it,” said Oiler senior middle blocker Julie Hinsche.

“We just allowed [the Oilers’] good ball control to rattle us a little bit,” Santa Barbara Coach Bob Moore said.

Huntington Beach came out swinging, but found an imposing obstacle in Santa Barbara’s 6-foot middle blockers Andrea Fischer and Annie Maxwell, who finished with 14 and eight kills.

The Oiler hitters began to cut their shots around the block and the Dons soon fell into disarray. Dana Atkinson led Huntington Beach with 11 kills and Lauren Wilson and Hinsche each had nine. Setter Allison Ciarelli, the Oilers’ stabilizing force, finished with 31 assists.

The Oilers, 20-2, briefly lost control in the third game, when Santa Barbara (20-5) went on an 8-0 run to take an 11-6 lead and Huntington Beach couldn’t recover.

“I think [we] lost [our] focus, which we’re capable of doing,” said Oiler co-Coach Rocky Ciarelli, who has led the Oiler boys’ team to two Southern Section titles.

Huntington Beach took a 9-5 lead in the fourth game, but Santa Barbara cut the margin to one point, 9-8, after an Oiler hitting error, a kill by Fischer and a dig by Janelle Parsons that landed on the Oilers’ side.

But Atkinson had a kill for a sideout. Then Wilson had a kill for a point and Stephanie Draeger served an ace for another to spark the Oilers.

The victory was a long time coming for Ciarelli, who always fields a competitive squad.

“Every year I think we have a chance,” Ciarelli said, “but it’s always nice to win.”