Loyola boys volleyball tops Mira Costa in first of two rivalry showdowns

LOS ANGELES – The rivalry between the Mira Costa high school and Loyola high school boys volleyball teams may be at its peak right now.

After Mira Costa’s victory over Loyola in last year’s CIF Southern California Regional Championship, the Cubs were looking for revenge.

They got that at home Saturday, defeating Mira Costa 25-23, 25-19, 25-17 in the first meeting since the regional final.

Although he was happy with the win, Loyola head coach Mike Boehle takes things one match at a time.

“It feels great, but it’s early on.” Boehle said. “It means we won the first match. We’ve got them again at their place in a couple of weeks. People remember you for the last match that you play. It’s great to get some motivation and some drive from our guys, because we have a lot of guys from the South Bay, it was great.”

Dillon Klein was dominant for the Cubs, leading all players with 18 kills. He added two blocks, two shared blocks and a service ace. Ryan Sprague provided the passing with 30 assists for Loyola.

Loyola (13-2) totaled five services aces in the match and had the Mustangs back on their heels often, which drew the admiration of Mira Costa head coach Avery Drost.

“I think Loyola’s service pressure was really solid,” he said. “There were some things I really liked in our game. I thought we executed fairly well with what we had. In the end we could’ve fought off their service pressure better, but they brought a lot of heat without missing.”

Victor Loiola led Mira Costa’s offense with 12 kills. Jason Walmer contributed 19 assists. Murphy Glasgow led the Mustangs (8-5) with three blocks.

Loyola, the No.1 ranked team in the latest CIF poll, pulled out to a 20-15 advantage in set one before No. 6-ranked Mira Costa stormed back.

The Mustangs tied the score at 20 thanks to two kills by Loiola and an ace by Dylan Warner. After a block by Loiola tied the score again at 22, the Cubs converted three of four points capped off by a set-point kill by Ryan Vena to end the set 25-23 in favor of Loyola.

Loyola dominated set two thanks to Klein, who had 10 kills on the way to a 25-19 Loyola win.

Klein found motivation in last season’s finale.

“It feels super good,” he said. “Avenging the guys on the team that were on the team last year like the seniors and beating this team, getting revenge felt good.”

Mira Costa carved out its most significant lead of the day in set three, 10-8, on kills by Stone Seligson and Loiola. But Klein and Vena would not allow Mira Costa to win the set and pushed the Cubs ahead 18-14 with a shared block and then back-to-back spikes on the way to a 25-17 third set-win and a three sets to none match victory.

For Loiola, the closeness between the two teams makes their rivalry special.

“We talk all this smack before the game,” he said. “But after the game, we all go out and have fun together and hang out like nothing happened.”