Mater Dei's Cutrell is 2011 top boys volleyball coach

Adam Cutrell was hired as the new coach of the Mater Dei volleyball programs Jan. 28.

The boys season started March 1.

Talk about adjusting on the fly.

"We were kind of skeptical at the beginning of the year because everything was changing," junior middle blocker John Zappia said.

Cutrell took over a team that went 15-14 the previous year. There were good starting points, including Zack La Cavera, middle blocker John Henry and setter Grady Zant. Still it took some time for things to come together.

"The first month that they were with me, we had to get them to buy into our system and buy into being patient," Cutrell said. "I kept telling them, guys we have all the parts to be in the CIF finals and to win it all if we can play like a team.

"We're going to lose some (matches), but as long as we learn from those losses and learn from our wins, just as much, then we're going to be in a good place."

The good place ended up being Cypress College on May 21, when the Monarchs defeated Trinity League rival Santa Margarita to win the their first CIF title.

"It has been a fun little journey for these guys," Cutrell said. "It has taken them awhile to believe, but as soon as that clicked in, we knew we had all the parts to be great."

As a result of getting this team on the same page in a short period of time and winning the program's first CIF title, Cutrell is the OCVarsity.com/Orange County Register's boys volleyball coach of the year.

"We had a great season," Cutrell said. "Quite the Cinderella story ... Our goal was to get to the (CIF-SS) finals, beat Santa Margarita and we made it to the semis of state."

What a ride in just a short period of time for the Monarchs and Cutrell.