Crespi on Wrong Side of the Net : Volleyball: Celts lose to Loyola and have a losing record for the first time in eight years with Slattum as coach.

ENCINO —  Crespi High boys’ volleyball Coach Kevin Slattum grinned wryly and swallowed an unpleasant pill with aplomb.

For the first time since Slattum started the Celts’ volleyball program eight years ago, one of his teams has a losing record.

“That’s hard for me to say,” he said.

But say it he had to after a 15-5, 15-5, 10-15, 15-8 loss to Loyola in a Mission League match on Tuesday.

Crespi (6-7, 5-6 in league play), will miss the playoffs this season for the first time ever, and its loss to the powerful Cubs (14-1, 9-1) was symbolic of the way the Celts have played this season.

“We played well in spurts and in other spurts we looked like a freshman team,” he said.

Ineptitude reigned for Crespi as Loyola coasted to victory in the first two games.

Trailing, 7-5, in the opener, the Celts surrendered eight consecutive points to lose the game, then made mistake after mistake in game two to lose convincingly.

Balls were being spiked off their faces, Loyola players were laughing and goofing around between games and all signs pointed to a demeaning three-game sweep by the Cubs.

But Crespi regrouped in Game 3. The team started hustling, minimized its mistakes and standout hitter Nick DiPasquale began displaying his powerful spike. Suddenly the Celts went on an 8-2 run to take an 8-6 lead.

Thanks to DiPasquale’s five kills and a slew of Loyola errors, Crespi seized a little piece of pride and won the game.

Reality soon set in and Loyola breezed in game four.

DiPasquale led Crespi with 18 kills and seven digs, and Joe Bellavia added 14 kills.