Alemany No Match for Powerful Loyola

Alemany High Coach Jamie Quaglino wanted to find out how his boys’ volleyball team stacked up against Loyola, the top-ranked team in California.

He found out quickly enough.

The Indians were smaller, younger and, ultimately, scored fewer points during Loyola’s 15-8, 15-4, 15-3 sweep of a Mission League match Thursday at Loyola.

The match capped a rough week for Alemany (4-3, 2-2 in league play), which lost to a so-so Crespi team on Monday and looked lost against Loyola.

“We’ve had a couple tough games,” said Quaglino. “When you’re young, you make mistakes.”

The Indians, who started two seniors, were no match in experience for Loyola, which started six seniors.

Loyola also held a decisive advantage in size and more than fulfilled the role of the state’s top-ranked Division I team.

“We don’t play much better than that,” Cub Coach Eric Wells said.

It would be difficult to.

Loyola (9-0, 5-0) showed a glimpse of vulnerability--perhaps overconfidence--at the beginning.

Alemany took advantage and stayed with the Cubs in the first game, catching them at 8-8 after a net violation.

“We came out like we should have, confident and ready to play,” Alemany outside hitter Darin Bell said.

Unfortunately for the Indians, they didn’t finish that way.

The Cubs went on a 37-7 run, including the final seven points of the first game.

The Indians lost their psyche when they lost the first game.

“When they won it, we got down,” said Bell, “and it was tough to come back.”

The Indians trailed, 14-0, in the second game before they scored.

The final game was much the same, with the Cubs taking 7-1 and 10-2 leads.

Throughout the match, Alemany failed to accurately pass the ball to setter Charles Zufelt, who logged plenty of mileage running from one sideline to the other.

The opposite was true for Loyola.

Hitters Tim Farmer (11 kills) and Pat Klein (10) were deftly set up for smash after smash.

“When we pass well and get the ball to our setter, we have a lot of weapons to set up,” Wells said.

Bell and Tim Nelson each had six kills for Alemany.