{"id":800293,"date":"2026-05-16T09:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/800293\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T09:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:47:19","slug":"mira-costa-defeats-loyola-for-the-southern-section-boys-volleyball-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/800293\/","title":{"rendered":"Mira Costa defeats Loyola for the Southern Section boys’ volleyball title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whether Mira Costa has the best high school volleyball team in America is open to debate, but the Mustangs left little doubt they are No. 1 in the Southern Section on Friday night, sweeping Loyola 25-21, 25-22, 25-22 at Cerritos College to repeat as Division 1 champions.<\/p>\n

UCLA-bound Mateo Fuerbringer was ready from the start, ending Loyola\u2019s first three rallies with thunderous kills and the fourth with an emphatic stuff block. Ten points into the match, the 6-foot-4 junior hitter already had five kills and he ended the first set with his 12th as Mira Costa was ahead from start to finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always had the IQ, now you add the power on top of that?\u201d Mira Costa coach Greg Snyder said of his star. \u201cThere are no answers. It\u2019s a deadly combination. Mateo has no weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams traded leads throughout the second set until the Mustangs created separation late on the serving of Fuerbringer and Enzo Barker before Loyola\u2019s Pax Stetson served into the twine to put Mira Costa up two sets to none.<\/p>\n

The third-seeded Cubs took a 17-11 lead in the third set, but Mira Costa got in front 20-19 on Barker\u2019s ace and Fuerbringer sent the green-and-white clad fans into delirium with his right-side smash on match point. He finished with 27 kills while Barker and UC Santa Barbara commit Wyatt Davis each added six. Mater Dei transfer Jake Newman had 38 assists and Dane Del Riego had 15 digs.<\/p>\n

\"Loyola\u2019s <\/p>\n

Loyola\u2019s Brendan Maffel flings the ball past Mira Costa blocker Miles Crotty during the Southern Section Division 1 boys\u2019 volleyball championship on Friday.<\/p>\n

(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to set the tone and Jake gave me great sets,\u201d Fuerbringer said. \u201cThey were bombing serves in that third set and got up on us, but we stuck with it and closed it strong. We didn\u2019t want to give them any momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mira Costa won its 10th section title and improved to 10-8 in finals. It also won back-to-back titles for the second time in school history, the first coming in Division 2 in 2001 and 2002. Mira Costa is 2-3 in finals against Loyola, having fallen to the Cubs in four sets in 2005 and 2010, prevailing in five sets in 2012 and getting swept in 2024.<\/p>\n

Mira Costa has won 10 straight matches (dropping only three sets) since its five-set defeat at Bay League rival Redondo Union on March 26. It avenged that loss in four sets April 20 to earn the top seed.<\/p>\n

The teams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country when they faced off in a nonleague match March 21 in Manhattan Beach, where the Mustangs rallied from a two-set deficit to win 15-11 in the fifth in a two-and-a-half-hour marathon. That time, Fuerbringer had 37 kills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time we didn\u2019t come out as strong,\u201d he said. \u201cThis time we were ready to play and came out hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the semifinals six days earlier, Loyola upset No. 2 Redondo Union in five sets, avenging a close loss in the Redondo Varsity Classic final on April 18. Mira Costa swept No. 4 Huntington Beach \u2014 its third victory over the Oilers this season.<\/p>\n

Mira Costa won the inaugural Division I state championship last spring and will begin its quest for a repeat Tuesday night (regional seedings will be released Sunday afternoon). If it runs the table, Mira Costa would equal its 37-2 record in 2025.<\/p>\n

Pepperdine commit JP Wardy had 13 kills and Rafa Milchan added 12 for the Cubs (23-4), but senior captain Blake Fahlbusch, who is headed to USC, was held to nine. Libero Matt Kelly, a Loyola Chicago commit, had 12 digs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know where everyone wants to swing and we know Blake\u2019s their catalyst,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cWhen they need a kill they usually go to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams did not meet in the postseason last year. Mira Costa defeated Huntington Beach to win the section and regional crowns while Loyola fell to the Oilers in the section semifinals and did not play in regionals.<\/p>\n

Snyder has guided the Mustangs into the finals in each of his three seasons, winning the last two. He was with the program for 12 years prior, seven as a varsity assistant under Avery Drost.<\/p>\n

\"Loyola\u2019s <\/p>\n

Loyola\u2019s JP Wardy gets blocked by Mira Costa\u2019s Miles Crotty and Colby Graham during the Mustangs\u2019 win Friday night.<\/p>\n

(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Loyola, making its 19th appearance in a section final, dropped to 13-6 all-time and 7-6 in 28 seasons under 1984 Cubs alum Michael Boehle.<\/p>\n

In the preceding Division 4 final, Sunny Hills beat Royal, 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23 for its second title since coach Albert Soliguen started the program in 2020.<\/p>\n

Owen Filadelfia had 18 kills and eight digs, Christian Lee added 17 kills and 11 digs, Jacob Sueki had 16 digs and Parker Mesnik dished out 47 assists for the Lancers (21-14), who swept Carpinteria in the Division 5 final in 2022 at Long Beach City College.<\/p>\n

Grant Herzer had 19 kills, Donald Fleming had 18 and each added nine digs for the Highlanders (16-11), who were seeking their sixth section title in their 11th trip to the finals, having won Division 2-A in 1989 and 1990, 3-A in 1992, Division II in 1994 and Division 3 in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether Mira Costa has the best high school volleyball team in America is open to debate, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":800294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,126467,2977,326055,1627,326054,32807,2961,224,5337,94433,196225,34868,471,5950,326053,33352,112071,326052],"class_list":["post-800293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-dig","tag-division","tag-enzo-barker","tag-final","tag-fuerbringer","tag-huntington-beach","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-loyola","tag-mira-costa","tag-mustang","tag-no","tag-season","tag-second-set","tag-second-time","tag-section","tag-thunderous-kill"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116583625654945529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}