Huntington Beach girls’ volleyball rallies past Edison
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On a muggy Tuesday evening, Huntington Beach girls’ volleyball team took a big step forward in the Sunset League, wisely pulling out tight sets at the finish to beat Edison in a critical showdown.
The Chargers’ search for a win continues.
Adrianna McGrath put up 15 kills and Charlie Lucky-Mitchell added another 13 and two service aces as the Oilers overcame a late first-set defeat and sizable third-set deficit to claim the final two sets by the minimum in a home triumph. That gave them sole possession of fourth place — the league’s last guaranteed CIF Southern Section postseason berth — a third of the way through their schedule.
Huntington Beach held off late Edison runs to nail down the 23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-23 victory, taking the third set on McGrath’s tip at the net and the fourth on an ace from Santa Clara-bound libero Zoe Znider, whom Oilers head coach Craig Pazanti lured from the beach game this season.
There’s lots of ground left, but it’s never too early to be thinking about the playoffs.
“It’s a big win,” Pazanti said. “We were 1-2 in league, and this league, you’ve got to grind, and every win means something. ... I think that all the games in the Sunset League are going to be like this. Everybody is pretty good, and everybody’s got players. There’s a lot of good volleyball in the Sunset League, everybody can play, and you’ve got to come every single night or you’re going to get beat.
“This was a big match for us. We needed that win.”
Amaya Lesley (nine kills, two blocks) and Camila Florgan (two blocks) were effective in an unexpected matchup in the middle with Tessa Beckman (10 kills, three blocks), a 6-foot-5 sophomore for the Chargers who shifted inside from the right pin to cover for injured Kate De Jong and Sydney Jensen.
“Tessa is definitely a player to be reckoned with, and we game-planned around it,” Pazanti said. “She hadn’t been playing in the middle, and she was in the middle, so our game plan that we worked on all day [Monday], we kind of threw it out the window.”
It made for a close, occasionally brilliant, and often thrilling encounter in which the margin was two points or less more than 60% of the journey, 40 times on 48 final-set points.
Seniors Bella Kompaniez and Jordyn Luna had 13 kills and sophomore Zoie Millichap chipped in with another 10 for Edison (6-10, 0-4 in the Sunset League), which took Marina and Newport Harbor to five sets and won a set against first-place Los Alamitos, the defending champion. The Chargers rallied to claim the first set.
Edison rallied from a 17-12 deficit to win the first set, pulling even at 18 — Beckman delivering four kills and a block in an eight-point span — before falling behind, 23-22, on a back-row hitting violation. Kompaniez settled it with a kill to tie and a block to win.
Huntington Beach (12-5, 2-2) pulled away in set two as McGrath put away three successive kills and five with a block over 10 serves, then used a 16-5 run — Lucky-Mitchell, Lesley and McGrath combining for five kills and a couple of blocks to turn a 9-2 third-set deficit into a four-point lead.
“I honestly think it was our energy,” Lesley said. “We definitely crashed for a second, and then once we brought our energy back and really focused on staying calm and collected, [we were able to] get a pass and a set and a swing.”
Edison evened it at 19 with two Kompaniez kills, another from Luna, and an Emery Oates ace, then traded runs with Huntington Beach until McGrath’s finish. A net violation gave the Oilers the edge.
Huntington Beach led most of the last set, never by more than three points, and outlasted the Chargers, who took 17-16 and 18-17 leads, down the stretch. Kompaniez pulled Edison even at 23 with a lunging hit that landed, McGrath restored the Oilers’ lead, and Znider delivered the victory, her dug serve falling between Millichap and setter Krystal Nguyen.
“Every match has been like this,” said Edison coach Shelby Young, whose team is home Friday against Corona del Mar (17-3, 3-0). “I’m just waiting for the spark to really hit when we fully put our foot on the gas and we learn how to finish, and we finish every set. We’re getting there, though. There’s definitely glimpses.
“The more we grow and the more we learn from those ups and downs, and make more ups than downs, then by the time we hit the final portion of the season, we’ll be in a good spot.”
Los Alamitos (14-2, 4-0) beat Newport Harbor (14-4, 2-1) in four sets in a league-favorites showdown, and CdM won in five against Marina (12-9, 1-2), which last week went five with Newport Harbor.
