Sea Hawks Take Care of Business, Win Redondo Title

The Redondo Union boys’ volleyball team started the year off on the right foot. An experienced Sea Hawks squad picked up seven wins en route to claiming this weekend’s Redondo Preseason Varsity Tournament Title.

Fourth-year head coach Duncan Avery sees promise in his current group of veterans.

“Our goal was to win the tournament,” Avery said. “We knew we had the talent and everyone did their job. Our guys have the mindset that we can go into any tournament and win right now.”

With eight seniors and nearly 30 years of varsity experience, the 2011 team represents the first group who has been entirely under Avery’s tutelage.

“These guys know what we expect from them. They battle hard and have been doing everything our staff has asked of them during the conditioning portion of the year and it’s showing right now,” Avery said.

Redondo defeated Long Beach Poly 25-22 and 26-24 in the championship match Saturday, concluding a perfect seven-for-seven run as the host team.

“We are not the biggest or the hardest hitting, but our serving and passing are both things we do extremely well and that’s the key to good volleyball,” Avery said.

Twenty-eight teams converged at Redondo Union on Friday with pool play. The Sea Hawks easily advanced, winning all three of their matches.

Saturday began with convincing set victories of 25-10 and 25-19 over Lakewood, followed by a quarterfinal win over South Torrance 25-21, 25-16.

Leading the way for Redondo was Middle blocker Ryan Mather, whose team-best 21 kills and 11 blocks earned him tournament MVP honors.

In the semi-finals, the Sea Hawks continued their winning ways when they overcame sluggish play and a 5-1 deficit in their first set with Burroughs before regrouping and claiming wins of 25-22, 25-19.

Senior setter Andy Price distributed 75 assists to fellow senior outside hitters Ryan Olson (16 kills, 28 digs, 7 blocks) and Riley Theunissen (15 kills, 19 digs) who joined Mather on the all-tournament team.

Redondo built early leads and was able to fend off late charges by Long Beach Poly in the championship with a balanced attack from their senior-laden squad.

Avery also applauded the efforts of starters Austin Moore, Greg Evans and Trevor Butler who enjoyed success throughout the tournament.

The Sea Hawks start six seniors and one junior, libero Kevin Fender. Freshman Louis Richard also is expected to make a significant impact this season.

“Louis is probably the top freshman in the country. He came in and did some really good things for us this weekend,” Avery said.

The Sea Hawks opened their season with a sweep of Los Alamitos earlier in the week.

“We have not dropped a single set in eight matches. This is one of the best starts our program has ever had and getting a taste of early success is very helpful to us,” Avery said. “We believe success breeds success.”

The Sea Hawks will look to build on their early season success as they welcome perennial power Mater Dei to town on Tuesday before an important weekend tournament coming up.

Redondo will head south for the Best of the West Tournament in Poway, which boasts some of the top competition in the country.

“The Best of the West is arguably the best tournament in the country. It will give us a great opportunity to see where we stack up with the best teams around,” Avery said.

Redondo is currently ranked fifth in Division-1 with powerhouses Loyola, Newport Harbor, Santa Margarita and Bay League rival Mira Costa figuring to be at or near the top all season.