Daily Pilot Boys’ Volleyball Dream Team: Big Ben Arguello rounded out game for Huntington Beach
- Share via
It might have been a matter of luck that Ben Arguello found his way to volleyball.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, basketball had not been available to Arguello in middle school. Volleyball, he said, entered the picture as he and his friends were looking for something to do.
“A lot of sports earlier in the year didn’t happen,” Arguello said, looking back on his seventh-grade year. “I didn’t play basketball that year. It didn’t happen because of COVID, and whatever other sports, so it was kind of like the only thing.”
Call it a touch of destiny.
When Arguello arrived at Huntington Beach High, Craig Pazanti, the longtime head coach of the boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams at the school, knew immediately that he had a natural opposite — a pin hitter placed on the right side.
“He was just a physical specimen,” Pazanti recalled of the teen, who now stands 6 feet, 5 inches tall. “He didn’t look like your typical freshman coming into high school. He was big and strong and athletic, and then as he kind of started to understand what it meant to be a point-scoring opposite — midway through his sophomore year and then to start last year — he just wanted the ball at big moments.”
Arguello evolved into an important option for Huntington Beach (24-6), which challenged the top teams in the sport, earning its second consecutive Sunset League title and trips to the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 and CIF State Southern California Regional Division I playoffs.
“I think it’s definitely changed a little bit,” Arguello, bound for Golden West College, said of his game. “I was mainly just a big hitter, but I think my game has evolved to where I’m pretty well rounded. Attacking is probably my best asset, but I would say my defense, back-row hitting and blocking have all come along in a big way.”
As a senior, Arguello smashed 361 kills on .324 hitting, adding 101 digs, 49 total blocks and 33 service aces. He shared Sunset League MVP honors with junior outside hitter and teammate Logan Hutnick, earned All-CIF Division 1 honors and has also been named the Daily Pilot Boys’ Volleyball Player of the Year.
Following the high school season, Arguello helped the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club to a third-place finish in the 18 Open Division of the AAU National Championships in Orlando, Fla.
That roster was loaded with local talent, including Corona del Mar’s Ben Brown and Drake Foley, Edison’s Andrew Boone,and Newport Harbor players Mats Arens, John Hohenstein and Tyler Pence. Arguello and Brown both earned all-tournament honors.
Pazanti noted there were a lot of games in which Arguello was “in the zone” in his senior season, adding the game “slowed down” for him.
“He was a true opposite from the time he came in,” Pazanti said. “He just had that mentality of ‘hard, harder and hardest.’ … My coaching to him was, ‘Hey, you are not a finesse player. You got three speeds: hard, harder and hardest.’
“Every time he would score on a roll shot or score on a tip, he would look at me and go, ‘Coach. Finesse.’ I’d be laughing. It was good that he actually started developing. He figured out that he didn’t have to swing as hard as he could every time, once he kind of set the defense up.”
COACH OF THE YEAR
Trent Jackson
Edison
The Sunset League annually represents itself as one of the top leagues in the CIF Southern Section, if not the nation. Against the powers of Corona del Mar, Huntington Beach and Newport Harbor, those remaining come out as battle-tested playoff teams, if they can find a way to qualify. Under Jackson, Edison (21-14) did just that, parlaying its at-large selection into a trip to the Division 2 final. While the Chargers suffered a season-ending loss to Orange Lutheran, they beat Beaumont, Arcadia and Camarillo en route to advancing to their first CIF final since 2006.
FIRST TEAM
Brent Benson
MB | Edison | Sr.
After leading the Chargers with a dozen kills and six block assists in their playoff opener against Beaumont, Benson, one of three seniors in the starting lineup, said he felt Edison could “go all the way.” Benson, who was named MVP of the Orange County All-Star match and plans to continue his career at Golden West College, was a big reason why the Chargers advanced to the CIF finals for the first time in two decades. A physical presence in the front row, Benson demonstrated that ability once more with six block assists in the championship game against Orange Lutheran.
Ben Brown
OH | Corona del Mar | Sr.
Brown became an emotional leader for the Sea Kings, despite spending just half his prep career at CdM. A transfer from Elmhurst York in Illinois as a junior, Brown earned All-CIF Division 1, Sunset League first team and Daily Pilot Dream Team accolades for the second consecutive year. The UC Santa Barbara-bound outside hitter had 393 kills on .421 hitting, 107 digs, 24½ blocks and 23 aces. Corona del Mar (26-7) made the section quarterfinals and qualified for the state playoffs.
Jacob Bystrom
L | Laguna Beach | Jr.
Laguna Beach (15-15) did not make the playoffs, but the bubble team did pull off an upset win at home against Sage Hill, the reigning Division III state champion and a program that had won section titles in each of the previous two seasons. Bystrom’s contributions were instrumental to the win, as he established a new school record with 33 digs in the four-set match on April 7. A Pacific Coast League second-team selection, Bystrom supplied 427 service receptions, 254 digs, 60 assists and 17 aces.
Logan Hutnick
OH | Huntington Beach | Jr.
A staple on the left pin since he arrived on campus three years ago, the USC-bound outside hitter continued to impress with an All-CIF Division 1 selection. The junior produced 329 kills, 130 digs, 38 total blocks and 26 aces. Hutnick split the Sunset League MVP honors with a teammate for the second year in a row, having done so with setter Kai Gan in 2025.
Quinn McIntee
OPP | Pacifica Christian | So.
After contributing to Crean Lutheran’s run to a Division 4 semifinal last season, McIntee transferred to Pacifica Christian (12-16). McIntee didn’t play his first game for the Tritons until March 21, but he proved worth the wait in garnering San Joaquin League Player of the Year honors. Pacifica Christian went 8-4 after his window of eligibility, including 5-0 in league matches and a first-round win against Etiwanda in the Division 5 playoffs. McIntee finished with 163 kills on .339 hitting, adding 38 digs, 35 aces and 28 total blocks.
Carter Tchaikovsky
S | Huntington Beach | So.
Huntington Beach had no shortage of options, or experience, on the pins with Arguello, Hutnick and Colin Choi returning this season, but it was Tchaikovsky’s turn to show what he could do in running the offense. The Sunset League first-team selection wound up with 967 assists, adding 116 digs, 47 total blocks, 21 kills and 13 aces. Tchaikovsky, a member of the men’s under-19 national team, recently committed to UCLA.
SECOND TEAM
Position, Name, School, Year
MB Mats Arens, Newport Harbor, Sr.
MB Daniel Booker, Corona del Mar, Jr.
OPP Andrew Boone, Edison, Sr.
OH Colin Choi, Huntington Beach, Sr.
S Drake Foley, Corona del Mar, Sr.
S / OPP Connor Gapp, Sage Hill, Sr.
S Tyler Pence, Newport Harbor, Sr.
MB / OH / OPP Billy Watkins, Fountain Valley, Sr.
OH Alex Wick, Newport Harbor, Sr.
MB Shane Wright, Edison, So.
OH Zack Zentgraf, Ocean View, So.
