second set

Whether Mira Costa has the best high school volleyball team in America is open to debate, but the Mustangs left little doubt they are No. 1 in the Southern Section on Friday night, sweeping Loyola 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 at Cerritos College to repeat as Division 1 champions.

UCLA-bound Mateo Fuerbringer was ready from the start, ending Loyola’s first three rallies with thunderous kills and the fourth with an emphatic stuff block. Ten points into the match, the 6-foot-4 junior hitter already had five kills and he ended the first set with his 12th as Mira Costa was ahead from start to finish.

“He’s always had the IQ, now you add the power on top of that?” Mira Costa coach Greg Snyder said of his star. “There are no answers. It’s a deadly combination. Mateo has no weaknesses.”

The teams traded leads throughout the second set until the Mustangs created separation late on the serving of Fuerbringer and Enzo Barker before Loyola’s Pax Stetson served into the twine to put Mira Costa up two sets to none.

The third-seeded Cubs took a 17-11 lead in the third set, but Mira Costa got in front 20-19 on Barker’s ace and Fuerbringer sent the green-and-white clad fans into delirium with his right-side smash on match point. He finished with 27 kills while Barker and UC Santa Barbara commit Wyatt Davis each added six. Mater Dei transfer Jake Newman had 38 assists and Dane Del Riego had 15 digs.

Loyola’s Brendan Maffel flings the ball past Mira Costa blocker Miles Crotty during the Southern Section Division 1 boys’ volleyball championship on Friday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I always try to set the tone and Jake gave me great sets,” Fuerbringer said. “They were bombing serves in that third set and got up on us, but we stuck with it and closed it strong. We didn’t want to give them any momentum.”

Mira Costa won its 10th section title and improved to 10-8 in finals. It also won back-to-back titles for the second time in school history, the first coming in Division 2 in 2001 and 2002. Mira Costa is 2-3 in finals against Loyola, having fallen to the Cubs in four sets in 2005 and 2010, prevailing in five sets in 2012 and getting swept in 2024.

Mira Costa has won 10 straight matches (dropping only three sets) since its five-set defeat at Bay League rival Redondo Union on March 26. It avenged that loss in four sets April 20 to earn the top seed.

The teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country when they faced off in a nonleague match March 21 in Manhattan Beach, where the Mustangs rallied from a two-set deficit to win 15-11 in the fifth in a two-and-a-half-hour marathon. That time, Fuerbringer had 37 kills.

“The first time we didn’t come out as strong,” he said. “This time we were ready to play and came out hot.”

In the semifinals six days earlier, Loyola upset No. 2 Redondo Union in five sets, avenging a close loss in the Redondo Varsity Classic final on April 18. Mira Costa swept No. 4 Huntington Beach — its third victory over the Oilers this season.

Mira Costa won the inaugural Division I state championship last spring and will begin its quest for a repeat Tuesday night (regional seedings will be released Sunday afternoon). If it runs the table, Mira Costa would equal its 37-2 record in 2025.

Pepperdine commit JP Wardy had 13 kills and Rafa Milchan added 12 for the Cubs (23-4), but senior captain Blake Fahlbusch, who is headed to USC, was held to nine. Libero Matt Kelly, a Loyola Chicago commit, had 12 digs.

“We know where everyone wants to swing and we know Blake’s their catalyst,” Snyder said. “When they need a kill they usually go to him.”

The teams did not meet in the postseason last year. Mira Costa defeated Huntington Beach to win the section and regional crowns while Loyola fell to the Oilers in the section semifinals and did not play in regionals.

Snyder has guided the Mustangs into the finals in each of his three seasons, winning the last two. He was with the program for 12 years prior, seven as a varsity assistant under Avery Drost.

Loyola’s JP Wardy gets blocked by Mira Costa’s Miles Crotty and Colby Graham during the Mustangs’ win Friday night.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Loyola, making its 19th appearance in a section final, dropped to 13-6 all-time and 7-6 in 28 seasons under 1984 Cubs alum Michael Boehle.

In the preceding Division 4 final, Sunny Hills beat Royal, 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23 for its second title since coach Albert Soliguen started the program in 2020.

Owen Filadelfia had 18 kills and eight digs, Christian Lee added 17 kills and 11 digs, Jacob Sueki had 16 digs and Parker Mesnik dished out 47 assists for the Lancers (21-14), who swept Carpinteria in the Division 5 final in 2022 at Long Beach City College.

Grant Herzer had 19 kills, Donald Fleming had 18 and each added nine digs for the Highlanders (16-11), who were seeking their sixth section title in their 11th trip to the finals, having won Division 2-A in 1989 and 1990, 3-A in 1992, Division II in 1994 and Division 3 in 2022.

At a school with the rich athletic tradition of Santa Ana Mater Dei, it is rare to be the first to achieve anything, but Matteo Huarte made history Saturday by becoming the Monarchs’ only CIF singles champion at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament.

After losing in straight sets to Rishvanth Krishna from Irvine University in last year’s final, Huarte was not about to squander his second chance. He raced to an early lead in the first-set tiebreaker, then broke to open the second set on his way to a 7-6 (3), 6-1 victory over Woodbridge’s Brayden Tallakson in front of a packed grandstand at Libbey Park.

Huarte had four service breaks — the last being a cross-court passing shot on match point. The final resembled Huarte’s semifinal win versus Irvine University’s JiHyuk Im in which he took the first-set tiebreaker 7-4 then cruised 6-2 in the second set.

“I’m happy I was able to do it for my school,” said Huarte, a junior who has committed to USC. “We’ve played each other a couple times and the key was to manage his serve and get into the rally. Once I got ahead of him in the tiebreak and then won the first game of the second set I was able to run away with it.”

Mater Dei’s only other title in the Ojai tournament’s long and storied history came in doubles in 2008 when Charlie Alvarado and Chris Freeman upset top-seeded Tyler Bowman and Jon Kazarian of Peninsula in three sets.

“It’s kind of hard to believe I’m the first to do it,” said Huarte about his singles title.

Last year, Huarte fell in the Southern Section semifinals to Palos Verdes ninth-grader Andrew Johnson, who went on to beat Tallakson 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Tallakson was trying to make history of his own Saturday at a venue near and dear to his heart.

Woodbridge’s Brayden Tallakson celebrates after his quarterfinal victory over Beckman’s Rohan Grewal at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I started playing tennis down in lower Libbey, my dad Steve grew up here and won the men’s tournament, so this place is like home for my family,” said Tallakson, who quickly downed Palisades freshman Kensho Ford 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals. “Matteo came out real aggressive, I made a couple errors on big points and he was just the better player today.”

Tallakson won the boys’ 14s division at Ojai in 2022 and had he prevailed Saturday, he would have been the first player to capture CIF singles and doubles titles at Ojai since Santa Barbara’s Nathan Jackmon won the doubles in 1993 and the singles in 1994. Tallakson won the doubles crown in 2023 with older brother Avery, with whom he will reunite next year at Boise State.

Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas and Edward Feuer completed one of the most dominant runs through the doubles draw ever seen at Ojai by beating Harvard-Westlake’s Aaron Chung and Chase Klugo 6-4, 6-2 in the finals. The Panthers’ duo did not drop a set in six matches and did not give up more than three games in a set until the first set Saturday when they broke in the ninth game to go up 5-4 and then served it out.

Bringas and Feuer are the first Peninsula pair to reach the CIF final at Ojai since 2011 and the third tandem in history to win it, joining Rylan Rizza and Jeff Kazarian in 2001, and Kazarian and Tiege Sullivan the following year.

Peninsula seniors Colin Bringas, left, and Edward Feuer celebrate after winning the CIF boys’ doubles title at the Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on Saturday.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“We’ve been playing together since second or third grade and we’ve been best friends since middle school at Ridgecrest Intermediate [in Palos Verdes],” Bringas said. “I always play the ad side, he’s always played the deuce court. I think the key was big serves … they make it easy for the net person to put balls away.”

Bringas and Feuer have partnered at Ojai the last three years, losing in the quarterfinal round as sophomores and juniors but steamrolling this year. They made a measly three unforced errors in a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal wipeout of Marina’s David Tran and Alejandro Hill. Tran was playing in his second straight final, having taken the runner-up prize with Trevor Nguyen in 2025.

“We were confident we’d win, but we felt the pressure and knew there are a lot of good teams here,” said Feuer, who plays No. 1 singles for dual matches while Bringas plays the No. 1 doubles spot with another teammate. “It’ll be really strange playing against each other next year.”

Bringas is bound for Westmont College and Feuer is headed to Point Loma Nazarene — rival NCAA Division II programs in the Pacific West Conference.

Harvard-Westlake, Woodbridge and University shared the Griggs Cup trophy, presented to the school with the most combined wins in singles and doubles. All three notched seven victories to force a three-way tie for only the fifth time since the award debuted in 1955 and the first since Santa Barbara, Palisades and Fresno Bullard were tri-champions in 1997. University has won it 13 times.