Eagles Get History Lesson, Victory

After second-ranked Santa Margarita boys’ volleyball team appeared inexplicably flat Thursday in the first game of a big match against No. 7 Capistrano Valley, Eagle Coach Eddie Rapp didn’t talk to his team about intensity. He talked about history.

“We had a little heart-to-heart after the first game,” Rapp said, “[talking about] just the philosophy and what we’ve gone through the past three years.”

Apparently, Rapp is an engaging history teacher.

Santa Margarita gave up only six points in the next two games and battled back from a five-point deficit in the fourth for an 11-15, 15-5, 15-1, 16-14 victory at Santa Margarita.

And then it was time for Capistrano Valley Coach Darren Utterback to talk about philosophy.

“We came out hard for the first game and then there’s that slight little letup. You can’t do that,” Utterback said. “We wait until our backs are against the wall.”

Capistrano Valley jumped to an 8-3 lead in the fourth game and held it. But the Cougars could not put the game away, squandering six game-point opportunities before Santa Margarita came back to tie it, 14-14 on a kill by Marcus Skacel that brought the crowd to its feet.

Tim Gerlach and Justin Deblasio combined on a block to bring up match point for the Eagles. Skacel then strategically served short and Deblasio nailed an errant Cougar pass for a kill and the victory.

“Capistrano Valley is a really good team,” Rapp said. “Playing teams like that you’re going to have to be up every time.”

In the first game, Santa Margarita jumped to a 5-1 lead but then went cold. Ryan Thurlow had 14 kills in the game as Capistrano Valley went on an 11-3 run to take the lead, 12-8. Nick Mauro had a kill and a block to bring Santa Margarita to within 12-11, but it was too late.

Thurlow had a kill to make it 13-11 and a reaching over violation by Santa Margarita brought up game point, which Capistrano Valley won on an Eagle hitting error.

Thurlow had a match-high 31 kills for Capistrano Valley (3-1) and Mauro and Skacel each had 17 for Santa Margarita (4-1).

In other nonleague volleyball:

Edison d. El Toro, 13-15, 15-6, 10-15, 15-8, 17-15--Chris Van Reusen had 45 kills and Ryan Hiskey had 73 assists for Edison (4-0).

Foothill d. Woodbridge, 15-12, 6-15, 5-15, 15-13, 15-9--James Dodgen had 17 kills for the Knights (1-3).

Laguna Hills d. Los Amigos, 15-13, 15-7, 15-9--Eugene Kim and Mike Brewer each had nine kills for Laguna Hills (3-3).