SOUTHERN SECTION VOLLEYBALL PLAYOFFS : Unseeded Irvine Stuns Huntington Beach

Irvine High School’s volleyball team fought off four match points and scored one of the biggest upsets in the Southern Section 4-A playoffs, rallying for a 4-15, 15-10, 5-15, 15-8, 16-14 second-round victory over second-seeded Huntington Beach Tuesday night at Irvine.

The Vaqueros (13-5) advance to Friday night’s quarterfinals against Santa Barbara, which defeated Arcadia, 11-15, 8-15, 15-6, 15-12, 15-13, Tuesday night. Huntington Beach, the Sunset League champion, finished 17-2.

Chris Swanner had 12 of his 18 kills in the final game as the unseeded Vaqueros rallied from deficits of 8-1 and 14-12.

Irvine Coach Mark Mednick said he wasn’t worried when his team faced match point.

“I thought as long as we continued to side out, we would be fine,” he said.

Huntington Beach’s Ian Adam and Adam Bowermaster each committed a hitting error as Irvine tied the score, 14-14. Brian Trout had a block and a kill for the final two points.

Trout had 13 kills, Chris Ramirez added 15 and Christian Norris had 12 for the Vaqueros.

But the biggest factor in the final game was Swanner, who had only six kills total in the first four games.

“I went and told our setter that Chris wasn’t getting the ball enough,” Mednick said. “Our outside hitters were doing a good job, but we were going outside too much. We had to get the ball in to Chris, and he came through for us.”

Huntington Beach Coach Rocky Ciarelli said Swanner was the difference.

“Swanner didn’t hurt us much early, but he killed us in the fifth game,” Ciarelli said.

Matt Taylor had 37 kills, including 11 in the final game, to lead Huntington Beach. Andy Kijewski had 21 kills and eight blocks, and Jeff Vanderwal added 10 kills for the Oilers.

In other 4-A matches:

Marina 3, University 0--Dennis Winners had 16 kills and John Mull added nine as host Marina won, 15-7, 15-7, 15-10. Greg Gratteau had 37 assists for Marina (13-5), the third-place team from the Sunset League. University, the third-place team from the Sea View League, ended the season 9-7.

Newport Harbor 3, Rolling Hills 2--Justin McIntee had 25 kills and Beau Sheward added 24 as the host Sailors won, 18-16, 15-13, 13-15, 11-15, 15-11. Mark McAnlis had 22 kills and Frank Griffo added 14 as Newport Harbor rallied from a 6-0 deficit in the fifth game.

In a 3-A match:

Esperanza 3, Garden Grove 0--Brad Goldston had 11 kills and Ryan Delaney added eight as host Esperanza won, 15-5, 15-6, 15-10. Esperanza, the Empire League champions, improved to 18-0. Garden Grove, the Garden Grove League champions, end at 15-4.