St. Margaret's captures title after shaky start

CYPRESS - St. Margaret’s insisted it knew what was coming in Saturday’s boys volleyball final against William Quanstrom and Arrowhead Christian of Redlands, but the Tartans still couldn't stop the blistering start by the Eagles’ outside hitter.

Down a game, the Tartans realized their strategy was sound, but they had to start executing it. With an inspired effort from Nick Adams in the middle, the team recovered quickly and stormed back.

St. Margaret’s captured its first CIF-SS Division 5 championship since 2001 with a four-game victory over Arrowhead Christian, 16-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-18, at Cypress College.

PHOTOS: Click here to see photos from this game.

MORE STORIES: Click here to read about Laguna Beach's victory.

The Tartans (25-4), who fell in last year’s final in four games to Salesian, will play Tuesday in the CIF Division 3 Regionals. Arrowhead Christian finished the year 22-7.

“We needed to try and control No. 2 (Quanstrom),” St. Margaret’s co-coach Karch Kiraly said. “That kid is a beast. As good as he is on film, he’s much better live. We had to try to force the action more. It started with Nick Adams at middle blocker.”

St. Margaret’s had been without Adams’ services since the playoffs began because of a tear in one of his knees. Adams’ hasn’t practiced the past two weeks, but he began warming up with the team Saturday morning.

Before he could play, however, the team needed permission from his mom. The coaching staff received a text message late in Game 1 with her approval and Adams started Game 2.

Adams gave the Tartans a presence in the middle, and it added strength to the triple-block it applied on Quanstrom.

“The guys started taking care of the little things,” Kiraly said.

It started with serve receive. The improved ball control allowed setter Kory Kiraly (48 assists) to set not only the team’s horse, Woody Quinn (26 kills), but also Adams, Kevin Wang and Arya Amirhekmat.

The Tartans also picked it up defensively, starting with libero Alex Fragapane. Fragapane kept more and more balls alive in the back and the longer rallies favored the Tartans.

“We knew we were the more balanced team,” Quinn said. “We got better as the match went on. We had a sound game plan, we just had to stick with it.”

St. Margaret’s took the lead, 14-13, in Game 4 on a hitting error from Arrowhead Christian and never looked back. The Tartans expanded the margin to 21-16 on another hitting error, forcing an Eagles timeout.

St. Margaret’s ended the contest on its second match point when Arrowhead Christian’s serve fell wide.

“It was nice to get another chance in CIF,” Kory Kiraly said. “I’ll probably remember this forever. It’s just our persistence and we let one game get to us. We were very persistent.”

St. Margaret’s played its way back into the match with strong play in Games 2 and 3. The Tartans led throughout both games.

Arrowhead Christian got close, 17-15, in Game 3, but St. Margaret’s responded with three straights points.

Game 1 was tight early. However, Arrowhead Christian used a 6-0 run to build a 15-8 advantage and gain control.

“Quanstrom is the best player we have faced all season,” Tartans co-coach Jeremy Dailey said. “It took us a while to start playing like we have all season.”