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High School Roundup: Ocean View proves strong

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The Ocean View High boys’ water polo team reached the semifinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division 7 boys’ water polo playoffs by winning its first three postseason games in the past week.

The Seahawks, the No. 2 team from the Golden West League and No. 5 seed in the tournament, advanced to Wednesday’s semifinal round by defeating host Brentwood (Freelance), 13-8, in a quarterfinal match Saturday.

Ocean View (21-10) met No. 2-seeded Yorba Linda (Empire League No. 1) in one of two division semifinal matches Wednesday. The score wasn’t available at press time.

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The winner of the Ocean View-Yorba Linda game advances to the Division 7 title game at 10 a.m. Saturday at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center in Irvine. The winner will face the winner of the other Wednesday semifinal game between top-seeded Segerstrom (Golden West League No. 1) and Placentia Valencia (Empire League No. 2).

In Saturday’s win over Brentwood, Jordan Salgado and Evan Bunin both scored four goals and Brian Smith had 16 saves for the Seahawks.

Brentwood finished runner-up to the Division 7 title last year.

Ocean View started the playoffs Nov. 12 and defeated Cypress (Empire League No. 4), 20-5, in a wild-card game. The Seahawks went on to upend San Gorgonio (San Andreas League No. 1), 19-4, in a first-round game Nov. 14.

In other boys’ water polo playoff action:

•Huntington Beach, runner-up to the Sunset League title, fell, 10-5, in a first-round game Division 1 game Nov. 13. The Oilers fell, 10-5, to host Corona del Mar (Pacific Coast League No. 2), 10-5.

Matt Robert and Matt Cook both scored twice, Skyler Munatones scored on a penalty shot, and Alex Wolf had 10 saves for Huntington, which concluded a 20-10 season.

“Our team needed to adjust to the way the game was being played, and we could not play catch-up with our slow start,” Huntington Coach Brian Anderson said. “Our offense, was stagnant, but our guys never let up in their efforts.

“This year was banner for our program. We lost more than 50% of our offense from the previous season, we were highly ranked for most if not all of the year in CIF and in Orange County, I got my 100th [career] win, and the boys got the experience of playing for the league championship. We would have liked to move farther in the CIF playoffs, but it’s Division 1, and an honor to be considered equal with top-level programs like CdM.”

•Edison also was eliminated from the Division 1 playoffs Nov. 13 following a 14-4 loss at No. 2-seeded Studio City Harvard-Westlake. Justin Harrison led the Chargers in scoring with two goals.

“I thought our boys came out and really competed hard against Harvard,” Edison Coach Diggy Riley said. “In fact, through the middle of the second quarter, I truly believe we outplayed them on both ends of the pool. We missed some easy chances to keep it close early, and you can’t do this against a team like Harvard.”

Edison, which finished fourth in the Sunset League and entered the playoffs as an at-large entry, finished the year 20-9.

“This was arguably the best season [Edison boys] have ever had, for sure during my 12-year tenure,” said Riley whose 2013 team posted the best record of his 12 teams. “Our boys worked as hard as I have ever seen a team train, in the pool, in the weight room, and in the games. Unfortunately, we play in the toughest division in the nation and our schedule was as tough as we have ever had.

“I am so proud of this group of boys [and] sad to see the season come to an end.”

Girls’ Volleyball

Both Huntington Beach and Ocean View were eliminated from postseason play Nov. 14.

Huntington, the second-place team from the Sunset League, played host to Mater Dei (Trinity League No. 2) in a Division 1AA second-round game, and was swept by the sixth-ranked Monarchs, 25-22, 25-17, 25-16. Katie Lespier had nine kills and Ally Forsberg seven kills for the Oilers, who ended the year 25-7.

Mater Dei, which defeated Great Oak, 3-2, in a Tuesday semifinal, will face Sunset League champion and No. 1 seed in the Division 1AA final at 8 p.m. Saturday at Santiago Canyon College.

The Oilers opened the playoffs 25-19, 25-8, 25-15 sweep of Mission Viejo (South Coast League No. 3) Nov. 12.

Ocean View (Golden West League No. 2) was defeated in a Division 4AA second-round match at No. 1-seeded Hemet (Mountain Pass League No. 1), 25-12, 25-10, 25-5.

Hemet will play Saddleback Valley Christian for the Division 4AA title at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College.

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