“We’ve just come together as a team,” said Thompson, who had a team-high nine kills and is going to Penn State next year to continue his volleyball career. “I think that’s why we’re playing a lot better this year. We’re not just that third-place team that everybody steam-rolls over. We wanted to come out and compete this year.”
Costa Mesa (10-3, 3-1) did just that, even after defending league champ Laguna Beach (16-5, 4-0) won Game 1 relatively easily. Game 2 was tight the whole way, with neither team leading by more than a point until the very end, when Laguna Beach won the last four to snap a 21-21 tie.
The side-out was so prevalent partly because Costa Mesa piled up the service errors, disappointing to first-year Coach Garry Currier.
“When they would miss a serve, we’d miss a serve right back,” Currier said. “I think we were a little anxious to play. We knew we had a great chance to beat them, and we just didn’t perform up to where we expected. Laguna, I don’t know if they wanted it more, but we were more anxious than they were to win the [match]. We just had mental lapses.”
The Breakers led throughout Game 3, pulling away late.
Senior outside hitter Jeff Dye had eight kills for the Mustangs, and junior opposite Corbin Randall added seven to add to the well-balanced effort. Senior libero Andy Feldman had 12 digs for Mesa and senior setter Ben Lefebvre added 24 assists.
“I’ve tried to make it about team unity, and less about one-on-one battles,” Currier said. “The first step is to come together as a team. I got this team three months ago, and they weren’t a team. Now, we’ve come together as a team, and they’re almost like best friends on and off the court.”
Laguna Beach’s Travis Woloson led all players with 12 kills, as Coach Lance Stewart was missing starting outside hitter Cooper Gwaltney (back). But Stewart said he knew Costa Mesa would be dangerous either way.
“They beat Calvary, and we knew they had the big middle,” Stewart said. “They pass the ball pretty well. We were expecting a battle and we got one.”
The rematch, which will be the regular-season finale for both schools, is May 6 at Laguna Beach.
