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Mira Costa boys volleyball falls to rival Loyola in Division 1 final

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Alex Heins #99 of Mira Costa spikes against Kai Klein #20 of Loyola in the second set of a CIFSS Division 1 boys volleyball championship match at Cerritos College in Norwalk on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Loyola defeated Mira Costa in 3 straight 25-21, 25-22, 25-21.(Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

NORWALK In a meeting between friends turned on-court rivals, the Loyola Cubs boys volleyball team came out on top in Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section Division 1 final against Mira Costa.

Mira Costa stuck around throughout the match, but the Cubs proved too much for the Mustangs in the 25-21, 25-22, 25-21 win for their 13th title and the first since 2016.

“Those Costa dudes have been our best friends for a long time so I love all those dudes,” Loyola senior outside hitter Sean Kelly said. “On the court, it’s a different deal.

“We’re competing trying to win so there’s a little extra whenever we beat them.”

The Mustangs started the first set on the front foot — taking eight of the first 15 points to take an 8-7 lead. Following a Loyola kill that tied things at eight apiece, Kelly’s serving caused the Mustangs problems and resulted in four consecutive points for the Cubs.

Mira Costa head coach Greg Snyder had to call a timeout 16 points later when the Mustangs fell five points behind, 20-15, and within a handful of points from losing the first set.

“Unfortunately it’s the wrong match to not play your best in,” Snyder said. “It wasn’t Costa volleyball. We had way too many errors and details were somehow left unattended.”

After the timeout, the Mustangs took two straight points to bring the deficit back to three but Loyola didn’t budge and denied the comeback to win the first set.

The second set finished similarly as the Mustangs had a 15-13 lead, only to fall short again.

Momentum shifted in favor of Loyola thanks to a quality effort from freshman libero John Gosser whose kick-pass kept the ball in play for a kill from the left side that had the Loyola fans erupting in the stands.

“We had some lapses when we got down by one or two,” Loyola coach Michael Boehle said. “That group of supporters, the group of families, kept believing in us and helped us.

“I’m proud of our effort and the fact we didn’t let our foot off the gas — we kept going.”

Late in the second set, the score was tied at 20-20 when a pair of serving errors from Mira Costa spoiled a run, which eventually resulted in a 25-22 win for the Cubs.

The Mustangs enjoyed its best volleyball, early in the third set, taking a 6-2 lead and stretching it to a 12-8 advantage. However, the Cubs went on to take six of the following seven points to earn a 14-13 lead that remained for the rest of the set.

“We run a drill called ‘fight and finish,’” Boehle said. “One team is up by a lot and they have to finish and the other team is down by a lot and they have to fight.

“We’ve been doing this religiously the last week and a half and all it does is prepare us for these situations where we’re down by three or four then our mindset is to turn that around and fight. If we’re up 15-14 then we have to finish. So we prepared them for it, we’ve been doing it all year and the results showed.”

Both of these schools will feature in next week’s CIF SoCal Regional tournament, with a rematch a possibility.

“We were close in all of the sets,” Snyder said. “It gives us hope that we can see this team at the end of regionals and play a better brand of Mira Costa volleyball and not shed as many points.

“If we do that, we can beat anybody.”



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