Volleyball

The quest for a repeat gold medal came to a halt Wednesday for the U.S. Olympic men's volleyball team. Defending champion Team USA was eliminated from medal contention by Italy, which scored a 28-26, 25-20, 25-20 quarterfinal round victory at Earls Court in London. Team USA, ranked fifth in the world, had won gold at the Beijing Games. Team USA is coached by Alan Knipe, who attended Marina High, played at Orange Coast College, and coached at Golden West College and Cal State Long Beach.

The Dwyer Middle School sixth-seventh-grade boys' volleyball team won three matches last week to claim the end-of-the-season middle school volleyball tournament title. The tournament featured middle school squads from Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Dwyer, coached by Scott Bradbury, opened the tournament on Nov. 2 with a victory over Huntington Beach rival Sowers and came back Friday to eliminate Harbor Day. The Jr. Oilers took on Corona del Mar in the division final and earned the title with a 25-15, 25-17 sweep.

The Marina High School girls' volleyball team has a lot to be proud of. Yes, the team's season ended sooner than members would have wanted after a loss last Saturday in the first round of the state tournament to Torrey Pines. But by then, the season had lasted longer than most could have hoped. Just getting to the state level was an incredible accomplishment. After five years on the outside looking in, the team captured the CIF Southern Section championship by beating perennial powerhouse Mira Costa two weeks ago. And they did it in heart-racing fashion, pulling out the 15-4, 15-11, 14-16, 13-15, 15-9 upset victory.

Imagine if not one, but three, athletes from the same community were selected to the U.S. Olympic team. Now imagine if all three were together in the same sport under the Team USA umbrella. That's exactly what Alan Knipe, David McKienzie and Russell Holmes have accomplished. Each is a member of the U.S. men's volleyball team that is in London for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Knipe played at Marina High and later coached at Golden West College, and is head coach of the U.S. men's team.

Thursday Baseball (TBA) Edison, Huntington Beach at Hard 9 Classic Softball (TBA) Huntington at Arroyo Grande Tournament Boys' Volleyball (all day) Huntington at Kamehameha Cup — Friday Baseball (TBA) Edison, HB at Hard 9 Classic Softball (TBA) Huntington at Arroyo Grande Tournament Boys' Volleyball (all day) Huntington at Kamehameha Cup Track and Field (4:30 p.m.) Edison, Marina at Arcadia Invitational Boys' Lacrosse (5:45 p.m.)

Matthew Butler, 12, of Huntington Beach and Vinnie Rios, 13, of Torrance teamed to captured a gold medal at the California Junior Olympic Beach Volleyball Championships in the 14-and-Under Division at Dockweiller State Beach in Playa del Rey. It was the first beach competition of the year for the pair. In other youth volleyball action: The St. Bonaventure School boys' A volleyball team won the Parochial Athletic Coastal League championship with a record of 10-0.

Mike Sciacca Tracy Lindquist remembers a time when she and her friends would go down to the volleyball sand courts near the Huntington Beach Pier and search for o7 anybodyf7 to accept a challenge match. "We would almost beg for a chance to play somebody," the 21-year-old recalls of her junior year of high school. "When we did play, we would routinely get whipped. But we had fun, and made friends with the other women who played volleyball at the pier on a regular basis."

Jillian Ukropina The Junior Spikers volleyball camp only lasts a week. For many of its participants, that's not nearly enough time. "Everyone takes it for two to three weeks," said Ric Jennings, the program's creator and director. "Everyone always returns." Junior Spikers, a program created to introduce the basic skills of volleyball, includes training, drills, challenges, team competitions and a daily dip in the ocean. Even with the relatively short length of the camp, participants learn techniques quickly and enjoy the company of their friends.

Jill Meyers, a former All-State volleyball player at Huntington Beach High, was recognized Tuesday night as the 2000 Outstanding Female Student-Athlete by the University of Massachusetts. Meyers was honored during ceremonies held at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston. Since she has been on the Amherst campus, Meyers has won several awards for academic achievement and was named one of Glamour magazine's 1999 Top Ten College Women. She is a three-time All-Atlantic 10 conference selection for volleyball, and is also a recipient of the 1999 Division I Woody Hayes National Scholar-Athlete Award.

ORANGE - Craig Pazanti cradled the championship plaque securely under his left arm while he wiped his brow with his right hand late Saturday night at center court at Santiago Canyon College. "I've been telling the kids all year that I thought they were the best team," Pazanti said, still wiping away sweat on occasion, the beads the result of an intense match his Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team had just fought through, and survived. Pazanti was proven right - his Oilers are the No. 1 team.

ORANGE - Craig Pazanti cradled the championship plaque securely under his left arm while he wiped his brow with his right hand late Saturday at center court at Santiago Canyon College. "I've been telling the kids all year, that I thought they were the best team," Pazanti said, the sweat he was still wiping away on occasion, the beads the result of an intense match his Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team had just fought and survived. Pazanti was proven right - his Oilers are the No. 1 team.

And the sweep goes on. When Huntington Beach fell behind by six points late in the first set of Wednesday's CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys' volleyball semifinal match with Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, the Oilers were in danger of having their straight-sets win streak snapped. Not only that, but a first set loss to the top-ranked Mustangs would force the No. 4-seeded Oilers to play catch-up the remainder of the match. Danger averted. Huntington regrouped after falling behind, 19-13, in that first set, and stormed back with an incredible rally that produced an eventual, 25-23 win. The comeback ignited a spark under the Oilers, who never looked back.

It has been 20 years since Huntington Beach High won its first CIF Southern Section championship in boys' volleyball. Entering the week, the Oilers were one win away from playing for another title. Huntington advanced to Wednesday's Division 1 playoff semifinals by sweeping its third-straight postseason opponent. This time, it was Dana Hills which felt the wrath of the Oilers, who scored a 25-20, 25-18, 25-21 quarterfinal road victory over the South Coast League runner-up. The win, the 11th-consecutive by sweep for Sunset League champion Huntington, put the No. 4-seeded Oilers, 29-2 overall, into a semifinal match at home Wednesday against top-seeded Mira Costa (Bay League No. 1)

Zoran Forgiarini and Suzy Mathieson held first serve, with hopes that others would follow. Forgiarini, the surfing and frosh/soph football coach at Edison High, and Mathieson, who coached girls' junior varsity volleyball, varsity softball and JV golf for the Chargers, learned last year of a girls' prep sand (beach) club volleyball league. The two coaches teamed to create the club sport of girls' sand volleyball at Edison, forming it with a roster of 15 players. The Chargers, many of whom played indoor girls' volleyball during the fall 2012 CIF Southern Section season, then went to work on fundamentals and figuring out their two-player teams format during workouts at Newland Street at Huntington State Beach.

Huntington Beach High and Edison are moving on in the CIF Southern Section boys' volleyball playoffs. Both the Oilers and Chargers started postseason play Tuesday, and both swept their opponents in first-round Division 1 matches. The Oilers won, 25-9, 25-23, 25-11, at home over Alemany (Mission League No. 4). The Chargers went on the road to face Aliso Niguel and knocked off the South Coast League champs, 25-17, 27-25, 25-15. In Huntington' win, Brenden Sander had 13 kills, TJ DeFalco 11 kills and nine digs, and Matt Butler had 22 assists.

One match was all that stood in the way of the Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team from making a clean sweep through its 2013 Sunset League schedule. The league champion Oilers upped their league record to 9-0 and overall mark to 25-2 by downing host Los Alamitos, 25-14, 25-10 25-20, Friday. The victory was the ninth by sweep in Sunset play and left the Oilers one win shy of completing a 10-0 league run for the second straight year. Sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco had 14 kills, junior outside hitter Brenden Sander four kills and three blocks, and senior middle blocker Andrew TenBrink had seven kills.

Thursday Track and Field (2 p.m.) Sunset League Finals (at Huntington Beach High) Golden West League Finals Swimming (2 p.m.) Golden West League Finals (at Ocean View High) Softball (3:15 p.m.) Marina at Edison Los Alamitos at Fountain Valley Huntington at Newport Harbor * Friday Softball (3:15 p.m.) Ocean View at Westminster Baseball (3:15 p.m.) Edison at Fountain Valley Los Alamitos at Huntington Marina at Newport Harbor Ocean View at Orange Boys' Volleyball (7 p.m.)

A year ago, the Huntington Beach High boys' volleyball team sewed up a Sunset League championship by defeating reigning champion Newport Harbor in the second to last league match of the season. Tuesday on the same floor, the visiting Oilers again secured the Sunset crown by taking down the Sailors this time, one match earlier. Huntington went to 8-0 in league and in the process repeated as league champ by sweeping Newport Harbor, 25-19, 25-20, 25-22. The win also put the Oilers, ranked fourth in CIF Southern Section Division 1, at 24-2 overall.