Eagles boogie to playoffs

COSTA MESA — It was Senior Night for the Estancia High girls’ volleyball team Wednesday.

It could have easily been Senior Day or Estancia Day, though. It was the Eagles’ final regular season match, but the festivities started long before anyone set foot in the gym.

First there was lunch, then a movie and the teammates finished the day with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-11 Orange Coast League victory over Costa Mesa to give the Eagles (19-9, 6-3 in league) a season sweep of their rival.

There was also some dancing in-between.

“We just kind of started dancing before matches a couple of matches ago,” said senior setter Stacie Watson who had 31 assists. “It really gets us pumped up and ready to play.”

Senior Taylor Brown, who had 10 kills, is credited with being the team’s best dancer, but that didn’t stop the whole team from dancing through the entire Costa Mesa warm-up.

“We just love to dance,” said senior middle blocker Jaye Hellmich who had 10 kills in the match. “Dancing gets us hyped up.”

The fun wasn’t relegated to the evening. After lunch, the team went to see the movie “She’s the Man.” Hellmich could not hold back her laughter when recalling the movie.

“It was so funny,” she said.

On the court, Estancia Coach Jim Huffman started six seniors. He maintained the same lineup through each of the three games.

“I never had to pull any of them,” Huffman said. “That says something about our seniors. They stepped up and played really hard. It’s a great way to end the season.”

In a glimpse of what could be a trend next season, the 7 p.m. start instead of the usual 4:30 p.m. brought out a segment of the Estancia population that has been unable to take in the Eagles’ matches this season. With practice and work well over, parents and members of the Estancia football team helped create an atmosphere Huffman would like to see more.

“I talked with Jeff Perry the girls’ athletic director and we said ‘Maybe next year we need to do more of these night matches,’” Huffman said. “This was our first night match of the season. Night matches are not the same. There’s an energy you don’t have with the 4 o’clock matches. Some parents haven’t been able to see any matches because they’re at work.”

The parents can now see the Eagles in the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs. Estancia will find out the specifics when the brackets are released Sunday.

“We just have to focus,” Hellmich said on the Eagles’ keys to success. “If we lose a couple of points we can’t let it get us down. We have to keep fighting.”

Estancia is determined to erase the memory of last season, when the Eagles, competing in Division III, made the playoffs for the first time in six years, but lost in the first round.

“We just need to play with intensity,” Watson said. “We know we have to work hard. We’re not going to get it handed to us.”

The Eagles said they have learned from playing three matches against Laguna Beach, which is ranked No. 2.

“I think it prepared us really well,” Watson said. “We’re a little bit tougher.”

For Costa Mesa (2-8 in league), which starts four sophomores, it was time to look to the future.

“I’m glad our sophomores got an opportunity to have a lot of experience this year,” Costa Mesa Coach Casey Peterson said. “We have four seniors so I wanted to be competitive.”

Senior Danielle Morton had a team-high nine kills.

“All of them are going to play club volleyball and they’re going to get better,” Peterson said. “We’re taking our lumps now, but next year it will be much more of a rivalry. It isn’t much of a rivalry now.”