Rocky Ciarelli Steps Down at Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach volleyball Coach Rocky Ciarelli has stepped down and one of his longtime assistants, Isaac Owens, has been named as his replacement, Ciarelli said Tuesday.

Ciarelli, who has coached the program for 16 years, left for personal reasons but said he will eventually return to coaching. He will continue teaching at Huntington Beach.

“For now, I’m going to take a full year off,” Ciarelli said. “Then I’ll take another look and re-evaluate it. But I think I’ll be back.”

Ciarelli’s girls’ teams won Southern Section and state titles in 1996 and the boys’ team won consecutive section titles in 1993-94.