Costa Bounces Back From Loss in CIF Title Match

The Mira Costa High boys volleyball team had a pretty easy night on Tuesday in its first playoff match in the CIF Division II Southern Regional Championships.

Costa, which was upset by Los Angeles Loyola on Saturday in the CIF-Southern Section Division I finals in four sets, came back with a quick three-set win against the Clovis North Broncos to advance into a state semi-final match.

Coach Mike Ninnis took the opportunity to start players in the first set that hadn't seen the court much this year. With the experience of seniors Michael Beals and Jace Olsen, and the excitement of the rest of the squad, the Mustangs took set one 25-12.

Chris Orenic and Kyle Burgoyne established their offensive presences early on with strong attacks throughout the first set. As the second set began, Ninnis started a line-up very similar to that of his regular starters.

The goal was to give some of the players rest during the first set but to establish more consistency throughout the rest of the match to get the team ready for the rest of the state tournament. However, after a day off and then a poor practice the day before, the team was not comfortable or in rhythm.

Clovis got out to a 5-4 lead before the Mustangs answered with any sense of strong effort or consistency.

"It's definitely tough to start one team and then bring in a whole different lineup and get into a rhythm in the middle of a game," senior Eric Mochalski said. "So they definitely came out and put pressure on us."

Toward the middle of set two, Mochalski went down at the net with a minor ankle injury. He came out of the match to rest and ice his ankle, but both he and the athletic trainer are confident he will be back for Thursday's match.

"It was just one of those plays where it was a tight set, and we both went up for it, and he came down first and I landed on his foot. But I think I'll be okay," he said.

After Mochalski came off the court, Costa rallied together to pull away led by Olsen with a kill and then an ace. Costa closed out set two 25-15.

The Mustangs finally looked like their old selves again in the last set. With a spread out offense, Costa decreased the number of errors, gained some confidence and momentum and breezed through the third set 25-19.

This win sends Costa to the regional semifinal match on Thursday against Norco High at 7 p.m. in the Mira Costa gym.

Mochalski said the focus moving into Thursday's match against Norco is definitely ball control. ''That's what hurt us in the match last Saturday. We still need to work on that," he said.

"We know a few guys on that team and they're pretty good, so we definitely need to work on setting our block in the right place and playing good defense around it."