Mira Costa sweeps Valencia in CIF state quarterfinals

Mira Costa started their CIF State run on Tuesday, May 26th against Valencia High School at their home court. Valencia came into the game as the 6th seed, and Mira Costa as the 3rd seed.

Costa seemed to dominate the game, led by senior Blake Markland. Markland had three kills and one ace at the start of the first set. Costa was able to show how aggressive they can be on the net with multiple kills. Throughout the first game, Valencia was unable to handle Costa’s offensive power. Junior Jackson Wedbush came in strong and was able to close the first set with a kill, winning it 25-10.

Costa faltered at the beginning of the second set, allowing Valencia to stay close throughout, even taking their first lead by three points. Markland and junior Carter Kimble began to aggressively take back the game offensively and closed the second set out with a 25-19 victory.

Looking for the sweep, Mira Costa tried to focus on coming back into the offensive side of the game. They were not able to do so, and Valencia began to stay within one point throughout the first part of the third set. Tensions began to rise between both teams when Valencia’s outside hitter Kyle Ensing blocked Costa and the referees made a controversial call against Valencia for an out of rotation play. Despite this, Valencia was able to keep a close game, but Kimble recorded the last kill and completed the sweep to win the third set, 25-23.