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Oilers still rolling

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Top-ranked Huntington Beach ran its Sunset League win streak to 25 straight Friday by disposing of host Los Alamitos.

The Oilers, minus starter TJ DeFalco, dropped the first set, 24-26, but rose to the challenge to win the next three sets, 25-14, 25-17, 25-20, to cap the first-round of league play at 5-0.

Brenden Sander had 22 kills for the Oilers, ranked No. 1 in CIF Southern Section Division 1.

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Huntington has won 44-consecutive matches, and is 20-0 on the season.

“It was good to see how we performed after losing the first set,” Huntington Coach Craig Pazanti said. “We were playing without TJ (DeFalco), who was in Puerto Rico representing USA Volleyball for the World Olympic Beach Qualifying Tournament. So, it was great to see the other guys step up in his absence.”

The Oilers hold a two-game lead on the rest of their Sunset League competitors with five games to go. They start the second round of league play next Tuesday at Newport Harbor.

Huntington swept the Sailors in the team’s first meeting March 28.

“I’m happy we are unbeaten through the first half of the league,” Pazanti said. “However, I think our best volleyball is still ahead of us. We are getting healthy and hopefully, will be at full strength as we make the final push for this season.

“We have had a different starting lineup for each of our five league games so far. I think as we start to create some consistency, we will continue to get better.”

In other Sunset League action Friday, Edison swept rival Fountain Valley, 25-19, 26-24, 25-13. The Chargers play at Marina and the Barons take on Fountain Valley when league play resumes Tuesday .

In a Golden West League match, Ocean View won by sweep against visiting Loara, 25-22, 27-25, 25-22. Tristan Wenschlag and Kory Wills had 14 and 10 kills, respectively, and Ryan Hernandez had 14 digs for the Seahawks.

Ocean View and Loara meet again at 4:30 p.m. next Wednesday at Loara to start the second-half of league play.

Boys’ Tennis

Ocean View and Loara battled to a 9-9 tie score but the Seahawks took the victory based on total games won, 76-61, in Golden West League play.

Ocean View’s Liam Shweyk, Khang Vo and Jacob Azoulay swept all nine singles sets, dropping only five games. The doubles sets were swept by the Saxons but the Ocean View teams of Andy Vieyra/Spencer Hagaman and Angel Abrego/Victor Padilla, fought to take two their sets to a tie-breaker, giving the Seahawks the margin for victory on the game count.

The Seahawks, won only one game last year, improved to 2-4 in league and 5-7 overall.

Basketball

Huntington Beach seniors Paola Roa scored 15 points and Stephanie Louie had three points to help lead the South to a 73-68 victory over the South Saturday at the 49th Orange County North-South All-Star girls’ basketball game at Concordia University in Irvine. The game also featured Marina senior Danielle Kennedy who scored eight points.

Kennedy’s North teammate, Courtney Vaccher of Yorba Linda, led all players with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

The South’s top scorer, Abby Conklin of San Juan Hills, finished with 18 points.

Westminster Coach Richard Katz served as head coach of the South and Huntington Beach Coach Russ McClurg was on the South staff.

In the boys’ game that completed the two-game series Saturday, the South scored a 72-68 win over the North. The South’s Devonte Klines (Santa Margarita) was the game’s top scorer with 15 points, and Riley Kemmer (El Dorado) led the North with 10 points.

CIF Weekly Rankings

Boys’ Volleyball: Huntington Beach (No. 1, Division 1).

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