Ocean View boys’ volleyball rallies, falls short versus Lakewood
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Ocean View’s grand boys’ volleyball campaign was coming to its end, two sets down and six points behind as Lakewood served for the final point in what would be an impressive road sweep of the No. 1 seed.
The Seahawks weren’t going to go so easily though, reeling off eight straight points to force another set, then reaching the brink of a decisive fifth set before falling, 25-16, 25-21, 24-26, 26-24, in Friday evening’s CIF Southern Section Division 7 second-round clash.
Defeat stings, but first-year head coach Steven Morales, who guided Ocean View (16-9) to the postseason for the first time since a Division 5 semifinal run in 2019, was beaming when it was done. He’s been working since fall toward creating a volleyball culture on campus, and here was the reward. Here was the response to talk “all across campus, everywhere” that the boys’ volleyball team “doesn’t win.”
Ocean View didn’t win this time, conquered by a school twice its size from a superior league that has played a tougher schedule, but the Seahawks’ fight before a small but vocal crowd was a sign, he said, that this team has arrived.
“Hopefully, this sets a new culture for this program and the school,” he said. “Hopefully, it sets a day where we mean business. It’s our first year. We’ll see what the summer looks like, and fall, then come back next year.”
An Nguyen, coupling a ferocious swing with a 45-inch vertical leap, led the charge, delivering seven kills and two blocks as Ocean View survived six game points and then led seven times in the fourth set, the last with two shots to pull even.
“I just want to say all of our guys, all the dedication we put in morning practices, every 6 a.m. from December, January and February, all of us are trying to put our best work in,” said Nguyen, who posted 17 kills and five blocks. “I’m just proud for them. It’s been six years since we made playoffs, they did everything they can, and this is where we are.”
Lakewood (12-10), which will be home for the quarterfinals against Brea Olinda (17-11), dominated the first two sets — Ocean View led just twice, 1-0 in the first set and 16-15 in the second — behind a balanced group led by Carlo Tautai-Reyes (12 kills), Christian Newquist (11 kills, three blocks), Ivan Mandujano (nine kills, five aces) and setter J.J. Fernandez.
The Seahawks, who had gifted the Lancers 17 points through two sets, kept it close into the second rotation in the third before falling behind, 19-13, as Newquist provided two kills and two blocks in an 8-2 run. Valentino Saenz-Castruita’s block on Nguyen 10 points later made it 24-18.
Nguyen repelled the first game point with a block on Dereon Groce, Quan Duong served an ace between two Lakewood spikes into the net, two more balls went out of bounds from Lancer touches, and it was even. Nguyen again blocked Groce to push Ocean View ahead, and a misplay on a simple ball extended the game a set.
“These guys refused to lose,” Morales said. “I told them, ‘Hey, at this point, it’s not even volleyball. You’re down to your last point, and you’re down six. Dig deep.’ And that’s what they did. They came back.”
First-year Lakewood coach Daniel Lozada, also directing a turnaround, called the sequence “unacceptable” and discussed it with his team at length after the handshakes. He thought Ocean View committed a double-hit violation on the first game point and said the “down” referee agreed with him.
“She said the [chief] ref didn’t want to finish the [match] on that,” said Lozada, who coached the Seahawks during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. “Which to me is unacceptable, but it is what it is. We battled through it. We got bad calls, but some calls went our way in that fourth set.”
The fourth set featured a dozen lead changes, half of those from 15-15, and only one lead (Ocean View at 7-4) greater than two points, and Ocean View surged ahead, 24-22, from a ball off the ceiling that the Lancers couldn’t corral and Tyler Chiangtong’s ace.
Lakewood scored the last four points, the equalizer and winner on Mandujano aces.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to close that fourth set. But great year, great year,” Morales said. “I feel like this is just a taste. This is the beginning of what could be. We only lose one starting senior — An, our best player and an amazing player — and return everybody else. So it’s just a taste of what next year can be.”
Nguyen is hopeful.
“Sometimes it takes time to change,” he said. “People say that we’re not good, but then we just practice day in and day out and try our best on game day. ... Hopefully, [we] can start showing our school that we’re a volleyball school. We’re not some school that has no name in volleyball.”
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