Aztecs beat Mira Costa
Tom Hastings keeps rallies going with key digs, lifting Esperanza to a hard-fought championship.
NORWALK - Minutes after the CIF-SS Division I boys volleyball match was decided, Esperanza libero Tom Hastings found himself being carried by the Aztecs faithful.
"Unreal … amazing," Hastings said. "I'm in shock right now."
With Esperanza serving for championship point against Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach, Hastings kept two rallies going with two digs that eventually led to Brad Hemmerling ending the match with a left-side blast to give the Aztecs a 3-2 victory: 22-25, 25-19, 25-23, 18-25, 15-13.
"That last point was really long," Hastings said. "I can't believe I got the first one, I just threw my arms out and it somehow got up. Then once it came back over, it is just too long of a rally for us to lose that championship point."
Hastings, a senior, spearheaded a defensive effort that helped keep the Aztecs afloat during the rough moments of Saturday's final at Cerritos College.
"I stressed to these guys all year, we knew that hitting and the setting was there," Esperanza coach Isaac Owens said. "But the defense had to be the difference. Defensively, you have to be amazing to beat teams like that, and I think if you look at our last two rounds, our defense was the difference.
"They (Mira Costa) made some great plays on defense, but when we really needed it, we dug down deep and played great defense."
That point told the story of the Aztecs' effort throughout the match. Mira Costa came out and won the first game and had its student body chanting: "That was easy."
The Aztecs struggled with their service game, committing six errors in the first game.
However, the Aztecs came back to win the second and third games and forced the Mustangs to the brink of elimination.
"We don't give up easily," Owens said. "We worked so hard and played great defense. … We just played an unreal match in an unreal atmosphere against a great team."
Mira Costa responded like a top seed would with its commanding victory in the fourth game.
The Aztecs, who were forced to a fifth game in the semifinals, started fast, taking a 5-1 lead in the fifth game. Mira Costa rallied for a 9-9 tie. The Aztecs appeared to take control when they scored three consecutive points, but the Mustangs wouldn't go away, tying again at 13-13.
Bryce Danker's kill gave the Aztecs a 14-13 lead and the opportunity to serve for championship point.
"We talked about just playing hard and to keep going," Hemmerling said. "Tommy (Hastings) was amazing. He had huge digs for us to keep us going.
"We talked about if we get down, that we couldn't get down on ourselves. We always fight back."
Danker led the Aztecs with 17 kills.
| The Mater Dei folks need to get over the fact that the semis are not played at a neutral location especially since MD already had their 2 home games during Rounds 1 and 2. It's a very poor excuse for your loss. If you're the better team, what does it matter where you must play as the better team will win the match regardless of the factors involved. |
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| MD Move On - May 30, 2007 10:51:56 AM | Remove Comment |
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| Hey Damian, from post season day 1, you called it right on the money that Espy would take it even though everyone said how impossible it would be to beat the not so mighty Mira Costa. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't know your stuff when it comes to high school volleyball! |
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| OC VB Fan - May 29, 2007 01:07:25 PM | Remove Comment |
