More Sweeps for Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach glided swiftly past Santa Margarita on Saturday to advance to the regional final of the state Division II girls’ volleyball tournament.

The Oilers overcame a late rally to win, 15-7, 15-7, 15-13.

Huntington Beach (22-2), which will host Westlake Village Westlake (17-3) Tuesday in the regional final, has lost only one game in six playoff matches this season. The game the Oilers lost was in the Southern Section Division II-AA final on Nov. 23, when they lost the second game before coming back to defeat Santa Barbara and win the school’s first Southern Section girls’ volleyball title.

“We’ve been playing really well lately. If we have everything going, it’s tough to play against us,” Huntington Beach co-Coach Rocky Ciarelli said.

Santa Margarita (15-6) rallied from a 10-2 deficit to tie the third game, 10-10. The Eagles took a 12-10 lead after Kiki Maroutsos blocked Oiler Julie Hinsche and Linda McCullagh sent a kill through the block of Hinsche and setter Allison Ciarelli.

“We just got a little fire and didn’t give up,” Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp said. “It was real easy to crumble but we didn’t.”

Neither did Huntington Beach.

Trailing, 13-11, Ciarelli dumped a set over the net for a sideout. The teams traded sideouts before the Eagles gave up two points with two hitting errors, making it 13-13.

Eagle Sabrina King tapped the ball around the block for a sideout but then Dana Atkinson pulled the same trick for the Oilers.

Shannon Redfern had a kill for the Eagles to get the serve back but Stephanie Draeger hit one long that the linesman ruled was touched by an Eagle player.

Huntington Beach did not squander the opportunity. Lauren Wilson had a kill to bring up match point and Draeger tapped the ball around a block to win it.

“I was impressed that we hung in there and won that game,” Rocky Ciarelli said.

The match also pitted Ciarelli against one of his former players, second-year Eagle coach Rapp, whom Ciarelli coached at Edison in 1983.

“Eddie’s a great guy and he does a great job coaching. You can see where this team has improved over the year,” said Ciarelli, whose team defeated the Eagles in the early-season Orange County Championships.

“He’s a great kid,” Ciarelli said, then amended the statement. “Now he’s a great adult.”