NEWPORT BEACH – Huntington Beach Boys volleyball was about to accomplish something that he had not done for almost a decade, so the Oilers had to make him special.
With their victory over Newport Harbor, 25-21, 12-25, 25-18, 25-21, Friday evening, the Oilers improved at 10-0 in the Sunset League game and won the League title for the first time since 2016.
After the victory of the Oilers against Edison on Wednesday which won a part of the league crown, they had t-shirts made to commemorate the feat.
Huntington Beach coach Craig Pazanti made sure that his players met near the net after the match so that they can get a photo shoot in their new shirts.
“We had the shirts printed once we won the league,” said Pazanti.
Pazanti, who led the Oilers to an appearance in the final of the CIF-SS and a regional championship in 2021, thought about the difficulty of the trip to win the right to become champions of the League.
“As I said, I think the other day when we won the share on Wednesday, it’s a difficult league,” he said. “I mean, we have been one of the best CIF teams for six, seven, eight years old and we have still not won a champion title, so it’s always good to obtain a victory in this gymnasium.”
“I mean, you know, the ceiling is different, the crowd is different, the gymnasium has set up as different, so you know and they played stronger, you know, they played very hard,” he added about the advantage of Newport Harbor.
The attack on the oilers was led by the second -year exterior striker Logan Hutnick and the junior opposite Ben Argullo all season, but Pazanti also credited the Junior Choi exterior striker.
“The unknown hero every night is Colin Choi,” said Pazanti. “I mean, he does all the little things and then, he is a lot of mind when he gets his sets, he takes advantage of it. It is essentially with him and (Aiden) Atencio, it’s like having a second Libero there when he is in the rear row, because he is such a big passer / defender but he can mark.”
Pazanti also mentioned that last season’s challenges have helped shape the team this year.
“I think everyone has somehow thought of last year was our year, right?” Said Pazanti. “We had the opportunity, we had the level of talent, you know, and we lose (Bennett) Tchaikovsky at the start of the year for an injury and we have always had an excellent season. But I think everyone outside the Huntington gymnasium may have underestimated us (this season) because we have lost guys who were quite influential on the program. “
“Tchaikovski, (Aidan) Dubno and (Jake) Pazanti, these three guys, were three -year -old beginners on Varsity and did a lot for us,” said Pazanti. “So, you throw Kai Gan in Jake’s spot, you throw Ben Arguello in Dubno’s square, then, you know, you move Logan in the middle, and now you have a dominant exterior striker, which we haven’t really had for a long time. Where we are going to do a guy, he’s going to do everything he had to do.”
“The development of a (intermediate blocker) Justin Bolsombut allowed us to move it. We obtained the transfer with Kaegan Ramdhani, so we added a little depth in the middle, which allowed us to move Logan and Logan did an excellent job.”
Pazanti hopes playing major games in home qualifying series can make a difference this year.
“So we control our own destiny at this stage now,” he said. “I mean, I think that with the way the classification is, we should play a lot of playoffs in the playoffs, so we will come back, will take a few days off, come back and prepare to play Fountain Valley a week from Tuesday.”
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
