Santa Margarita Makes Quick Work of Mater Dei

58 minutes.

That’s all it took for Santa Margarita to humble Mater Dei Thursday night in a much- anticipated Trinity League boys volleyball match.

The second-ranked Eagles played nearly flawlessly in their offensive execution and defensive prowess, and combined with a surprisingly poor hitting performance by the fourth-ranked Monarchs, won going away, 25-19, 25-18, 25-16, in a CIF-Southern Section Division 1 showdown at Santa Margarita High.

The Eagles won for the 20^th time this season against only two losses and shut out an opponent for the 13^th time. The Monarchs lost for only the second time this season and second time to the Eagles. The first was three weeks ago in two games at the Orange County Invitational.

With 19 wins, Mater Dei came into the match riding a 15-game winning streak that started with a victory over Huntington Beach. However, that ended abruptly as the Eagles efficiently executed their game plan while the Monarchs finished with only one ace compared to 18 serving errors and committing 15 unforced errors.

“We played well. We’ve been working hard in practice,” Eagles coach Bryan Cottriel said. “Maybe we caught them on a bad night or maybe the pressure of the game got to some of their younger guys. A senior team is not going to make many errors.”

Senior Ryan Baine led Santa Margarita with eight kills and his two consecutive aces in Game 3 sent the Eagles on a 7-2 run that sealed the deal. Junior Mitch Vallis was everywhere, leading the team in blocks with three while adding five kills to pace an offense that committed exactly four errors in the three games. They also had five aces and committed half the service errors (nine) as the Monarchs.

Setter Taylor Hammond was a rock for Santa Margarita, handing out 18 assists and making only one error in 2½ games.

 Senior outside hitter Kevin Clark said the team was ready for Mater Dei because it was a league game, and nothing more than that. "You don't want to get too cocky. You have to put it into prospective," Clark said. "It was big for us in the Trinity League, but that's it. I don't think it was a statement game or was over-hyped. We just came out and did a good job."

Senior Zach La Cavera led Mater Dei with nine kills, including five in Game 3. But on match point he was roofed by Spencer Buckley and left the court visibly frustrated. The Monarchs left the court quickly and Coach Adam Cutrell did not return to comment.

Santa Margarita has a busy weekend. They leave early Friday morning for Santa Barbara as the No. 2 seed in the annual Karch Kiraly Invitational and will face San Marcos in the first round. The Eagles' second-round opponent will likely be Thousand Oaks. Mira Costa is the No. 1 seeded team. Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar will also be there and could meet in Friday afternoon's second round.

The Eagles and Monarchs will play again on May 5 at Mater Dei to end the regular season.