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Boys’ volleyball: Huntington Beach wins Division I title

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Sophomore TJ Defalco had 26 kills as Huntington Beach outlasted Loyola, 26-28, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22, 15-10 in an epic Southern Section Division I final at Santiago Canyon College.

Andrew TenBrink had 10 kills, Brendan Sander had nine kills, Zach Gates added nine kills and four blocks and Matt Butler had 51 assists for the fourth-seeded Oilers (31-2), who had upset defending champion Mira Costa in the semifinals.

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Garrett Mohr and Jackson Bantle each had 15 kills for the second-seeded Cubs (30-4), who were denied their 12th CIF title by the slimmest of margins. Loyola also lost in the finals last year, but rebounded to sweep Otay Ranch for the Southern California Regional Division I championship.

Chris Kennedy’s jump serve on the fourth set point led to Mohr’s quick kill that gave Loyola the first set. Huntington Beach took the second set on a spike by Gates. The Cubs opened a 20-13 lead in the third set and won it on a hitting error.

Huntington Beach used a 6-0 run to take a 22-18 lead in the fourth set and won it on a stuff block by Gates and Tenbrink. The Oilers took an 8-3 lead in the last set on an ace by Defalco, who ended the match with a kill. He added seven digs and two aces.

‘That’s the best serving team we’ve played all year and they took us out of what we wanted to do,’ Huntington Beach Coach Craig Pazanti said. ‘We weren’t playing our best in the first three sets but fortunately we were able to block some balls and getting up early in the fifth was critical.’

In Division II, junior Jacob Arnitz had 44 kills to power top-seeded Esperanza past third-seeded Santa Barbara, 21-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-17.

In Division III, Robert Adamson had 14 kills and Richard Yu added 11 kills as second-seeded South Pasadena upset top-seeded Camarillo, 27-25, 25-13, 26-24. Owen Yoshimoto finished with 19 kills and eight digs for Camarillo.

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In Division IV, top-seeded Cathedral defeated Del Rey League rival Bishop Montgomery, 29-27, 25-16, 18-25, 25-22.

In Division V, top-seeded Saddleback Valley Christian rallied past Westminster La Quinta, 18-25, 25-12, 16-25, 25-18, 15-7 to win its first CIF title.

-- Steve Galluzzo

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