Loyola Rolls to Lucky No. 7

The action was nonstop Saturday at the Southern Section Division I boys’ volleyball final. Well, everywhere but on the scoreboard.

Los Angeles Loyola and San Clemente took turns pounding sideout after sideout at Cypress College, but it was the Cubs who slowly inched away for a 15-11, 15-11, 15-12 victory, which took 1 hour 45 minutes and marked the seventh section title for Loyola.

The top-seeded Cubs (20-0) beat San Clemente in four games to win the Division I championship in 1995, adding to the five section titles Loyola won in the 1980s. The Tritons won their only section title in 1976.

San Clemente (18-2) took a 9-6 lead in the first game, only to see Loyola score seven unanswered points. The second-seeded Tritons cut the lead to 13-11 on Karl Metzger’s kill, but Eric Chaghouri’s spike gave the Cubs game point. Chaghouri then won a joust at the net against San Clemente setter Brian Thornton to end the game.

San Clemente stayed close in the second game, twice turning deficits into leads before dropping six consecutive points to fall behind, 14-10. Jimmy Killian soon followed with a game-ending, cross-court kill.

San Clemente built a three-point lead in the third game only to give up the last six points of the match. Brett Simpson’s hitting error gave the Cubs game point and Thornton was called for a lift trying to save a block on Simpson by Killian and Matt Hillier.

Killian and Simpson each had 17 kills to lead their teams.

Camarillo d. San Gabriel, 5-15, 5-15, 15-5, 15-5, 15-9 -- Once the Scorpions settled into the match, there was little to slow their comeback in the Division III final between two schools in their first championship match.

The top-seeded Scorpions (21-1) not only fell behind by two games, but trailed, 6-3, in the rally scoring fifth game before scoring five consecutive points. San Gabriel (17-2) cut the lead to 9-8, but Camarillo reeled off another four in a row and Eric Vance ended the match with back-to-back kills, giving him a match-high 26.

San Gabriel, the Almont League champion but unseeded in the playoffs, gave Camarillo that sinking feeling by scoring the final seven points of the first game and last six of the second.

Camarillo got a break early in the third game when a pass bounced off an overhead metal beam and back into play. The Scorpions took a 2-0 lead on an ensuing lift call and then scored eight of the next nine points.

Back-to-back service aces by setter Mazi Sarahang, who finished six assists short of a school record with 66, helped Camarillo build a 12-4 lead in the fourth game. Teammate Michael Power had 21 kills and 15 blocks.

-- Dan Arritt

Sun Valley Village Christian d. Brentwood, 15-10, 15-6, 15-9 -- Mike Richards had 11 kills and Jordan Coon finished with 10 kills and seven blocks for the third-seeded Crusaders (17-2), who won their first section championship by defeating the Eagles.

With the score tied, 5-5, in the second game of the Division IV final, John Mark Wendler blocked Brentwood’s Matt Ceran on three consecutive hits to give Village Christian a lead it never relinquished.

“We couldn’t be any more motivated than we were today,” Coon said. “The momentum from our last match [a five-game victory over second-seeded Corona Santiago] carried over to this one and we were really confident. They didn’t have much to stop our offense.”

Ceran had 13 kills and Mike Mortimer added 10 for the top-seeded Eagles (17-2), who dealt Village Christian its two losses during Olympic League play.

Huntington Beach Brethren Christian d. San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s, 15-11, 11-15, 15-13, 15-9 -- Matt Holmes had 23 kills and 13 blocks and Daniel Phelps finished with 13 kills and 10 blocks for the fourth-seeded Warriors, who beat their league rivals for the first time in three tries to win the Division V title.

“Hitting-wise, we ran some more [quick sets] to take out their middle blockers,” Holmes said. “But the main change we made was on defense. We defended the lines more because that’s where their big hitter likes to go.”

Andrew Fisher finished with 12 blocks and Jon Phelps had 17 digs for Brethren Christian (18-2).

James Edwards had 19 kills and three aces and Nick Brion finished with 56 assists and 14 blocks for the second-seeded Tartans (18-3), who beat Brethren Christian in four- and five-game matches in Academy League play.

-- Steve Galluzzo