Mater Dei Freshman Is Big Surprise in Sweep

Fourth-seeded Mater Dei’s three-game sweep of Foothill in the second round of the Southern Section Division II boys’ volleyball playoffs wasn’t completely routine.

Sure, Patrick Cope had 16 kills and David VanSambeek had 12 kills and seven blocks for the South Coast League champion Monarchs, who won, 15-10, 15-8, 15-7, Wednesday at Mater Dei.

But it was 6-foot freshman Mike Gazzano, a junior varsity setter, who led the Monarchs to victory.

“He’s the player of the match as far as I’m concerned,” Foothill Coach Rich Polk said. “He set a great match. It was huge for him to be able to step in like he did.”

Gazzano had 38 assists and five blocks for Mater Dei (16-1), which advanced to the quarterfinals to play Tustin.

Foothill, the Century League champion, ended 12-4.

Gazzano, who led the junior varsity to a 16-0 season, didn’t even find out he would be playing with the varsity for the playoffs until Monday. Starting setter senior Jimmy Munoz sprained his ankle in practice Monday and did not play Wednesday.

“He might be out for the season,” Mater Dei Coach Ron Stahl said. “We’ll see.”

Stahl called Gazzano at home Monday night and the freshman had only one day of practice with the varsity, Tuesday. He hadn’t played in 1 1/2 weeks since the regular season ended.

“We just told everyone to keep it simple,” Stahl said. “And if you pass well, anyone can set.”

For the most part, Mater Dei did pass well.

The teams played a tight first game, but after Foothill closed to within, 11-10, Mater Dei closed out the game, taking advantage of three hitting error and one blocking error by Foothill.

Foothill never seemed to recover after the first game loss.

“We didn’t step it up against a better team,” Polk said. “We weren’t hitting smart at the net. You can’t just hit everything down against the good teams.”

Chris Brown and James Dodgen had nine kills each for the Knights. But Foothill never got over the hump in the final two games.

Mater Dei scored the first six points in the second game. Although Foothill battled to within, 9-8, on a kill by Brown, Mater Dei scored the final six points of the game.

Mater Dei scored 11 consecutive points to take a 13-3 lead in the third game, seven coming on Cope’s serve.

Although Foothill setter Chris Cachet (31 assists, 11 digs) and Chet Johnson blocked Mater Dei’s Martin Prietto to make it, 13-7, the Monarchs closed it out with a block by David Allen and Van Sambeek then Kevin Doty served an ace for match point.