Mater Dei easily handles Mira Costa in battle of top prep girls volleyball

The ball skied excessive and vast, threatening to fall to earth out of bounds, as Mira Costa ladies’ volleyball junior Chloe Hynes ranged to her left.

In a single fell swoop, Hynes thrust herself onto the scorer’s desk, prolonged her arm and punched the dying dig again into play. It appeared not possible. The visiting crowd at Mater Dei’s fitness center exploded, a triumphant bathe of admiration for a gritty play.

The celebration lasted a cut up second. A Mater Dei hitter casually smacked a weak return away for some extent. The save was all for naught.

Thursday night time ought to’ve been an thrilling conflict of the titans, an early-season matchup between two of the most effective ladies’ volleyball packages in California. However the Mustangs sat three of their high gamers. Grit might solely take them thus far after a first-set victory, and Mater Dei stabilized an overwhelming block within the following units for a reasonably straightforward 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-21) win.

“Once we see them later within the season,” Monarchs coach Dan O’Dell mentioned, “they’re going to be a a lot, a lot completely different workforce and a stronger workforce.”

Drew Wright, Mira Costa’s chief in kills final season, was on the sidelines in a black warmup shirt and sweatpants. Charlie Fuerbringer, top-of-the-line setters within the nation, was there too, as was switch Tanon Rosenthal.

All three, together with Georgia Walker and Emilia Kupiec, had been benched by coach Cam Inexperienced after a violation of workforce coverage. Inexperienced declined to call the precise circumstances of the violation, noting that it could solely be for one sport and the workforce was dealing with it effectively.

“It wasn’t that straightforward to do,” Inexperienced mentioned of sitting the group, “however we set a precedent.”

His workforce was nonetheless anticipating to compete, Inexperienced mentioned, and compete they did by stealing the primary set. However the momentum shifted instantly within the second, Mira Costa merely unable to get a ball over Mater Dei’s block regardless of Hynes’ greatest efforts, and late-set comebacks all through the night time fell quick.

“Blocking goes to be considered one of our enormous strengths — we now have quite a lot of dimension throughout our hitters proper now,” O’Dell mentioned. “We must always block a ton of balls.”

Senior center blocker Preston Johnson led the best way with seven blocks. Junior exterior hitter Izzy Clark — holding up her wrist like she’d simply swished a three-pointer after one highly effective shot —notched 9 kills, as did junior Babi Gubbins.

However the Monarchs knew they didn’t play their greatest. Everybody was up and down, O’Dell mentioned, transferring his hand like a rollercoaster.

Not fairly the Southern Part playoff preview it might’ve been, with the early-season kinks and lacking faces.

“I want to replay them with their starters, Charlie and Drew,” Clark mentioned of Mira Costa.