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Sports

Photos: Sea Hawks Defeat Mustangs in Volleyball Game Five

A psyched Lady Sea Hawks volleyball team clinches the No. 2 spot in the Bay League with its defeat of arch-rival Mira Costa High School.

When the Redondo Union High School girls volleyball team lost the second game and went down 2-0 to their arch rival Mira Costa, Sea Hawk Coach Tommy Chaffins felt like he still had the Mustangs right where he wanted them.

The Sea Hawks then went out and put together their best performance of the season to come roaring back to win the final three games and beat the stunned Mustangs 23-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17, 15-8 in a Bay League thriller Tuesday at Redondo.

"I felt like after the second game that we were in control of the match," Chaffins said. "We were down 2-0, but I felt like we controlled those games but just let them slip away at the end. I told the girls not to panic; that we needed to keep playing hard and that good things would start to happen."

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The Sea Hawks (21-15, 6-2) got the lift they needed in the form of junior Sage Mendez, a 5-foot, 7-inch dynamo, who seemed to be taller than every player on the court by rising up over and knocking in kill after kill past the much taller Mustangs (19-11, 7-1).

"I wanted to hit the cover off the ball in the third game," Mendez said. "I didn't care where I hit it. I just wanted to hit it hard and at one of their players."

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Mendez finished with a team-high 22 kills, 17 of which came in the final three games when the Sea Hawks needed them most. Redondo also got a huge performance from sophomore setter Petra Grutzik who got her first taste of action because usual starter Olivia Bustamante was out with a concussion. Grutzik finished the match with 53 assists.

"Those two really stepped up big for us tonight," Chaffins said. "They all did. This was, by far, our best performance of the season. This is the game that we have been expecting from these girls all season and tonight we finally put it together."

Trailing 8-4 in the fifth game, the Sea Hawks clawed their way back again and went on an 11-0 run to close out the game and match for Redondo. Sea Hawk junior finished with 20 kills, nine digs and no hitting errors, while senior libero Tiffany Morales had 19 digs for Redondo.

"This is the most fun I ever had playing volleyball," said Grutzik, who was grinning from ear to ear before, during and after the match. "Beating Costa is the ultimate. We have tried so hard in practice but haven't played up to our potential in games. Tonight I think we changed that."

This was supposed to be the year Redondo upended Mira Costa's decades-long run of league championships, but inconsistent play by the Sea Hawks and strong play by the Mustangs gave Mira Costa its 27th straight title.

"We felt like going into this season that we had a good chance at the league title," Chaffins said. "But for whatever reason, we haven't been real consistent. Hopefully this match will do for us what it did last season and propel us to a long run in the playoffs."

The win gives Redondo firm control of second place in the Bay League and potentially a spot back in the CIF-SS Division 1 top 10 after falling out of the top 10 for the first time this year last week.

The loss by the Mustangs overshadowed a dominating performance by senior Maddy Klineman. Klineman finished with a game-high 28 kills but only had 13 kills over the final three games as the Mustangs' grueling schedule finally caught up with them.

The Mustangs are still the 2011 Bay League Champions and now will get a little rest after playing seven matches in 10 days. Mira Costa took fifth place at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions last weekend and had their final three matches of the tournament all go five games.

"We were definitely on tired legs," said Mira Costa Coach Lisa Zimmerman. "I knew that we were in trouble after watching all those service errors early. I think all those games in a short amount of time caught up to us tonight but give Redondo credit—they refused to go away. Typical Costa versus Redondo game."

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