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    Lakewood’s inexperience shows in loss to Brea Olinda in volleyball quarterfinals
    • May 8, 2025

    LAKEWOOD – The Lakewood boys volleyball team had its season come to a disappointing end with a loss to Brea Olinda, 26-24, 25-17, 25-17, in the Division 7 quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section playoffs Wednesday.

    Carlo Tautai-Reyes Jr. led Lakewood (8-18) with 14 kills. He added a block and three assists. Advent Fernandez led the team in assists with 26 while Ivan Mandujano served two aces and added four kills.

    Lakewood coach Daniel Lozada thought his team missed an opportunity.

    “We had scouted them pretty well,” Lozada said. “We knew where their pieces were going to be attacking from or the right pieces were going to be coming from, we just didn’t execute our game plan. The inexperience from some of our players caught up to them in pressure situations, it’s a culmination on a lot of things.

    “It was a multitude of errors form the get-go. Serve receive I think was our biggest fault. They served really well. That’s definitely where they got us.”

    It looked as if Lakewood would take the first set, but Brea Olinda prevailed. The two teams traded points until late in the set when kills by Tautai-Reyes and Mandujano and an ace by Christian Newquist gave Lakewood a 21-19 lead. Brea Olinda later tied the score at 23 before taking a 24-23 lead on a kill by Addison Altermatt.

    A kill by Mandujano tied the score at 24 on the next point, sending the set to extra points. A long rally culminated in a kill by Brea Olinda’s CJ Villaverde. On set point, Altermatt clinched it with a kill for a 26-24 Brea Olinda win.

    Altermatt led Brea Olinda (17-12) with 10 kills. Seth Vivek paced both teams with four aces.

    Brea Olinda, which has not lost a set in its first three playoff matches, will be home Saturday night against San Jacinto in the semifinals.

    Lakewood struggled in the second set, falling behind 7-4 early. Kills by Tautai-Reyes and Newquist and a block by Deron Groce helped Lakewood creep to within a point 10-9.

    Brea Olinda pulled away after that, growing its lead to as much as five points, 18-13, after a kill by Mason Del Rosario. Brea Olinda won the second set 25-17 on an unforced error by the Lancers.

    Lakewood dug itself another deep hole in the final set, suffering from a streak of self-induced errors, struggling to hit the ball in bounds.

    Brea Olinda built a 17-9 lead midway through the set. Vivek notched his fourth ace of the match and Altermatt converted his ninth kill to help earn Brea Olinda match point. 24-17. Altermatt ended the match with his final kill to give the Wildcats the 25-17 win.

    Newquist, a senior, said the Lancers will continue to grow next season, but was unhappy this season ended the way it did.

    “The future of the program looks bright with coach Daniel,” Newquist said. “He’s a great coach. He teaches you a lot. The young players that we have are really great and will play club.

    “I’m going to come back and help. I feel good, we’ve done something we haven’t done in a while, but it’s disappointing how it ended tonight.”

    ​ Orange County Register 

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