Breakers Rally to Win CIF Division 3 Volleyball Championship, Again

With their backs truly against the wall for the first time in the CIF Southern California Regionals Division 3 playoffs, Laguna Beach fought back hard against Francis Parker High of San Diego and pulled off its three-peat.

The Breakers, trailing 2-1 in games and by as much as 17-12 in the fourth game, used the sparking play of outside hitter Alek Burk and middle blocker Colin Ceithaml to rally for a 25-17, 17-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-8 victory.

“I'm an excitable guy -- a football coach who likes to see some emotion," Laguna Beach coach Lance Stewart said. “In football, you can show that emotion physically, and in volleyball, you can't show it physically. We weren't making plays to show emotion. That's the first thing that we had to do.”

Burk put away four of his 10 kills in Game 4, including a crucial one that gave Laguna Beach a 19-18 lead. Another of his kills pushed the Breakers' lead to 22-20 lead, and Ceithaml came through with a block to make it 23-20. Ceithaml and Robbie McKnight teamed up for an emotionally-charged block that put the game away and tied things up at two games each.

“I think Alek picked us up a lot,” said the USC-bound McKnight, who finished with 26 kills. “I think we were a little down on ourselves [after losing Game 3]. But we definitely had to pick our heads up.”

The Breakers (23-11) jumped to an 8-5 lead in Game 5 on two straight kills by McKnight and two more by Burk. Ceithaml put away one of his seven blocks, then two consecutive net violations by Francis Parker (16-17) made it an 11-6 Laguna Beach advantage.

Two block attempts by the Lancers that landed wide gave the Breakers the game and the match.

“We starting blocking some balls, we stopped missing so many serves and we gave ourselves a chance to play volleyball,” Stewart said. “We hit in and we served in and if you don't do that, you can’t play the sport. Alek played well when he had to play well.”

Ceithami and Austin Hillemann each finished with eight kills.

Laguna Beach came out hot in Game 1, landing four aces and taking a 20-11 lead thanks to five consecutive service points won by McKnight.

But Francis Parker stormed back in Game 2, taking a 19-10 lead before the Breakers came back to within 23-17; however, a hit that went long on game point tied the match at a game apiece.

Francis Parker took a 2-1 advantage thanks, in large part, to Laguna Beach hits that landed wide, long or in the net. Rafa Alvarez, who had six kills, put a ball away on game point for the Lancers.

Alex Klein finished with 12 kills for Francis Parker, while Bryce Fitzner had 10 kills and eight blocks and David Lauer added seven kills.

“I think they were a very good team,” McKnight said of Francis Parker, which fell to Laguna Beach in three games in the 2009 regional final. “We let up a lot after that first game.”

McKnight was one of several seniors who played on all three regional championship teams.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “Not many teams get to say they won the Southern California Regional championship. I’m stoked to go down in my high school career with a three-peat. My four years here were awesome.”