Artists Swept by Santa Ynez

Laguna Beach knew it had to bring its best game to topple top-seeded Santa Ynez in Saturday’s Southern Section Division III boys’ volleyball championship match at Cypress College.

Unfortunately for the Artists, they didn’t play well and their opponents were sharp, resulting in a 15-4, 15-8, 15-2 blowout that took a little more than an hour.

Charlie Witt, a 6-foot-4 junior, had 12 kills and UCLA-bound senior Chris Pena, a 6-5 middle blocker, had 11 kills and four blocks to lead Santa Ynez (21-3) to its fourth Division III title in the past five seasons.

Santa Ynez, which has front-line players who average 6-6, lost to Laguna Beach in four games in the season opener.

That victory gave the Artists (14-10) some hope, although their tallest player is 6-5 senior Miles McGann.

“We passed perfectly the first time we played them,” Laguna Beach Coach Shawn Patchell said, “so we could run our offense. This time, we passed poorly.”

It resulted in a predictable offense and the outcome wasn’t pretty for Laguna Beach, which faced a Santa Ynez block that included Matt Mosebar (6-10), Marcus Gilmour (6-9), Chris Padfield (6-4) and setter J.T. Gilmour (6-2).

McGann, who has signed with USC, had a team-high 16 kills in 41 attacks, but he was also blocked seven times. The rest of the Artists combined for 11 kills.

Laguna Beach had its best chance to get into the match when it pulled even, 7-7, in Game 2.

But two Laguna Beach hitting errors and a setting error helped Santa Ynez score four points, then Pena served for three more to make it 14-7 before the Pirates closed out that game.

“This is sweet to win it as a senior,” said Marcus Gilmour, who will join McGann at USC next season.

McGann was not at 100% Saturday after he sprained his left ankle in practice Thursday. But he wasn’t about to make any excuses.

“They played awesome,” McGann said. “We got to the finals, and that shows we stepped up at the right time. But I don’t know what it was today.”

And McGann’s future teammate grinned at the bragging rights he earned.

“It’s fun to play against Miles,” Gilmour said. “He’s a good competitor. Now I can rub it in a little. I think we’re going to be roommates for the next four years at ‘SC, so I can bring out this [championship] patch and show it to him now and then.”