It was a tough week for the Los Alamitos High boys volleyball team, but two wins to end the Orange County Championship Tournament might have the Griffins back on track.
The Griffins will begin Sunset League play on Friday and the league again looks like a gauntlet run for whichever team eventually wins the league title. The Griffins finished third last year, behind Huntington Beach and Newport Harbor.
The most recent CIF-SS Division 1 poll has Newport Harbor ranked sixth and Huntington Beach ranked 10th. Edison is ranked 9th in the poll and Fountain Valley is ranked 10th in the Division 2 poll. The Griffins have tested themselves with a tough schedule, and has shown plenty of competitiveness against top-tier opponents.
Last week, the Griffins hosted Mater Dei in a hard-fought four set match that the Monarchs eventually won, 31-29, 24-26, 25-19, 25-18. After losing the first set in extended scoring, the Griffins fell behind in the second set before rallying to capture the set.
“I was really impressed with the effort of my team,” Head Coach Mike Whitcomb said after the match. Whitcomb said his team may have become a little fatigued in the two long sets, but also noted that he was not overly concerned with it this early in the season. Whitcomb was encouraged by the competitiveness of his team, particularly with the strong league battle they are sure to encounter.
After dropping the first set, the Griffins needed to rally from behind to eventually win the second set. Mater Dei led 23-21 after a tip shot by the Griffins fell wide. Senior Kevin Marshall closed the set to 23-22 with a kill before the Monarchs scored on a block to get to set point, 24-22.
Junior Josh Ridgeway got the Griffins to within 24-23 with a kill to the back line, then the Monarchs were called for a net violation to tie the match at 24-24. Ridgeway then put the Griffins up 25-24 with a tip shot off a defender’s hand. Sophomore Jake Maffett then closed the set with kill from the left off a block that dropped in for the point.
Maffett and Marshall each had 24 kills to lead the Griffins, while senior Tanner Kaufman had 13 kills. After struggling in the early rounds of the Orange County Championships over the weekend, the Griffins bounced back to win its final two sets over Tesoro and Dana Hills.
The Griffins will open Sunset League play on Friday at 5:45 p.m. at Huntington Beach High. Despite the tough test of league play, Whitcomb said his team has the talent to compete if they can stay focused.
“We’re going to be a lot better at the end of the season if we desire it,” Whitcomb said.

This article appeared in the March 22, 2017 print edition of the News Enterprise.

Beach Futbol Club Boys 2008 team won the Cal South Mayors State Cup the last weekend in February. In a closely contested final, the local squad edged a Union Independent FC Elite squad 2-1 to come away with the title.
“I’m still breathing hard, it was so dramatic,” said Coach Benny Artiaga after the game, according to the team’s profile on the Cal South website. “We faced, by far, the toughest team we’ve faced in the tournament. We had to hang on and our kids stepped up.”

The FC Premier 04 Girls from Los Alamitos won the California Cup 2017 tournament recently.
The tournament was played at the San Bernardino Sports Complex and ran from February 25-26 and the semi finals and Final were on March 4.
The girls went undefeated in pool play with a 4-0 win over Celtic-Shamrock then won 7-0 against Inland Empire Surf.
Then they tied 1-1 against a physical Riverside United team.  There were five severe injuries during that match but after some therapy and rest the team was ready for semi finals.

Los Al senior Ethan Bakker capped off a stellar wrestling career last weekend with a trip to the medal podium at the State tournament in Bakersfield.
He battled his way through the toughest high school State tournament in the Nation to become a California State medalist.
After making it to day two, he knew if he wrestled well, he could see a path to the medal stand.
Saturday brought only 16 wrestlers back from the original 40 man bracket and every match was against California’s finest.