Mira Costa boys volleyball regroups after first set and defeats rival Redondo Union
MANHATTAN BEACH - Momentum.
It comes and goes in volleyball and after losing the first meeting against Redondo Union and then dropping the first set of Monday's regular-season finale, the Mira Costa boys volleyball team was searching.
"Last match, I think we underestimated them, we went in thinking were going to beat them easily," Mira Costa sophomore middle blocker Miles Crotty said. "This time, we really prepared and had a great practice leading up to it, so I think that really changed things.
"We realized (after the first set) that we needed to get it together, do the little things right and if we do the little things right, then we will win."
Mira Costa (33-2) did just that, winning the next three sets to close the regular season with a 26-28, 25-13, 25-18, 25-22 win, securing a share of the Bay League title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
Redondo defeated Mira Costa in five sets, March 26.
"I don't think we played poor or anything (in the first set)," Mira Costa coach Greg Snyder said. "There were some points that we could have earned that we kind of gave away, our serving wasn't quite as tough.
"I think after the first set, we found a good row to be in against them and it just seemed to work and then at that point, we kind of had to momentum and they just had to beat us and I was confident in my team that we didn't need to make any changes.
"We expected them to make a rotation change, but we were ready to have them prove that they could beat us when we were playing well."
Redondo (26-3) was coming off of a strong showing Saturday, winning the Varsity Invitational Classic, defeating Loyola in three sets in the final.
The Sea Hawks survived a late rally by the Mustangs in the first set, but closed the set on consecutive kills from Cash Essert and Mavrick Essert for a 1-0 lead.
That was the wake-up call the Mustangs needed.
Mateo Fuerbringer led Mira Costa attack with 27 kills. Colby Graham had nine kills, Crotty had five blocks. Wyatt Davis and Jake Newman had eight and seven kills, respectively.
The continued development of Graham and Crotty had benefitted the Mustangs greatly this season.
"Colby (Graham) has been taking off the last week or a couple of weeks," Snyder said. "We really have been kind of not that strong from the right side and he's giving us more of a presence out there. I still want to use him out there, but he's trending in the right direction, so we're a little bit more balanced.
"Miles (Crotty) steps up all the time. The fact that Miles is a sophomore and doing this against massive, talented teams is incredible. He went off in the tournament in Hawaii and I think he's just finally found his groove and is really comfortable with this teammates and he gets more so every day."
Cash Essert and JR Boice recorded 11 and 10 kills, respectively for the Sea Hawks. Redondo was fifth in the April 15 CIF-SS rankings, but could possibly move up, when the final rankings are released Friday, followed by the pairings Saturday morning.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.