Photos/CIF girls volleyball: The mastery of Mira Costa and all the 'pieces that fit'

Mustangs return to glory years behind perhaps nation's best setter, an array of hitters and an undeniable tenacity that keeps getting tested in heart of Southern California

The Mira Costa girls volleyball team of 2022 has scaled heights not seen in Manhattan Beach in 15 years.

The Mustangs are 35-3 and the top seed in the Southern Section Division 1 pool play playoffs. They are among three who have won their first two matches and no matter what happens, they will advance to the Northern California playoffs in two weeks.  

They'll play Mater Dei-Santa Ana Saturday in the final round of Pool A play.

See pool play results, schedule

In addition to reclaiming Bay League supremacy with two straight titles, the Mustangs are back among the highest national level. 

Between 2004 and 2007, the Mustangs won four straight CIF state titles and a mythical national crown, led by players such as Alix Klineman, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, an All-American at Stanford and later an Olympic gold medalist.

They have not been back to a state championship match since and sparkling records such as 34-0 in 2007 were replaced with more frequent double-digit seasons, albeit against some of the country's top competition. 

Charlie Fuerbringer (24), Mira Costa setter. Photo: Heston Quan

Teams such as Redondo Union-Redondo Beach had more success in the Bay League although the Mustangs were solid contenders who did secure a few titles.

But now they appear on a path state and national prominence once more. They are ranked No. 2 in the SBLive state rankings, behind only consensus national No. 1 Cathedral Catholic, and Top 5 nationally.   

Mira Costa coach Cam Green cites three main reasons for the return to the national elite. 

“Sometimes all the pieces fit together," Green said. "The players we have and the coaching staff. The team is a cohesive unit and there is no drama. We have a good group of girls that support each other. Everyone is buying in to our system and how we play the game. And we have some athletes.”

That's an understatement. 

Setter Charlie Fuerbringer, a Wisconsin-commit, is widely viewed as one of the the top prep setters in the nation. Fuerbringer’s mother Joy was an All-American setter at Long Beach State and her father Matt is the career leader in kills for Stanford, where he won a national title in 1997.

"She just does everything," Green said. "Set, attack, block, serve, play defense. She can set from any place on the court. For sure, she is the best setter to ever play here at Costa.”

Something about Charlie

Fuerbringer, a member of the USA Under-19 national team, plays club volleyball for Mizuno Long Beach and her prime connection at Costa is with Drew Wright, who plays for Sunshine.

That is a dynamite duo unmatched in Southern California or perhaps anywhere.

See current SBLive's California Top 20 girls volleyball rankings

“Drew is on the outside,” Green said. “She can hit anything. Her passing is great and she is unreal for us. We also have Tanon Rosenthal at opposite. She is a great all-around volleyball player. She can also set if we want to have Charlie hit.”

Wright, a Princeton commit, leads the Mustangs with 313 kills and a .276 attack percentage.

Drew Wright (12), Mira Costa in first-round pool play game with Lakewood. Photo: Heston Quan

Rosenthal, a transfer from Texas who also plays for Mizuno Long Beach, has 240 kills and a .246 attack percentage. She will play beach volleyball in college for Arizona.

The arsenal at Mira Costa is deep. Chloe Hynes has 167 kills. Erin Inskeep has been a defensive specialist most of the season but can also hit and play all-around. Inskeep was recently named AAU Beach Player of the Year. 

The middle is solid with Bryn Shankle, Siena Hertlein and Rachel Moglia. 

Libero Taylor Deckert has a lengthy list of high-level beach volleyball accomplishments.

The coaching staff and their systems are the second piece of the puzzle at Mira Costa.

Green, a Mira Costa alum, who won a boys volleyball state title, has coached at Long Beach State and at USC, in both indoor and beach volleyball, and for both men and women. He's also mentored many of the best beach players in the country.

“I coached on the men’s side in college for nine years and I brought that in here,” Green said. “How we block and how we defend. We run some pretty advanced things offensively here. It’s pretty fast and we come at you from different areas.”

Hawaiian skies

The season and the prospects really took off back in Hawaii at the mid-August Ann Kang Invitational Tournament. 

The Mustangs lost a pool play match to Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth 25-21, 20-25, 23-25, but came back to top the Trailblazers in the tournament final 25-20, 25-22.

“We definitely thought we were going to be good this year,” Green said. “We’ve been at the top for a while. I think at Hawaii, when we lost to Sierra Canyon in three and came back and beat them in the final, it was the first time we felt we could be really good. We came back home and we played Marymount and Torrey Pines and you could see some things. We were really good.”

Double Mira Costa block of Erin Inskeep (11) and Bryn Shankle (20). Photo: Heston Quan

On consecutive Thursdays to begin September, the Mustangs swept Marymount-Los Angeles 25-15, 25-21, 25-18 and Torrey Pines-San Diego 25-18, 25-20, 25-12 via a combined 28 kills from Wright. 

Another key point came on September 27 at rival Redondo Union. After capturing the first set 26-24, the Mustangs watched the Sea Hawks take the next two 25-22 and 25-19 and lead 22-14 in the fourth.

“We were down 22-14 to lose the match,” Green recalled. “We talk about if things go wrong, we have ways to score. In the huddle, we saw different ways to come back. Keep our heads in the right place. We constantly have that conversation.”

The Mustangs reeled off seven straight points and outfought Redondo 28-26 to even the contest at two sets apiece. In the fifth set, they roared out to a 7-0 lead over their stunned rival, saw Redondo take the match to deuce and then Costa finally prevailed 16-14. 

Later that night, Green watched a replay of the match to grasp the magnitude of the comeback.

“At first, I thought we were lucky,” Green said. “When I watched it, it was a proud moment. We didn’t get rattled. We were doing smart volleyball things. To watch what we did defensively, at the net, blocking, in transition. I got to see the way volleyball should be played. We don’t want to have the fear of not making mistakes. Not us. At the timeout, I said to take a risk and go for it. I trust them.”

The comeback was an illustration of the mental toughness in this year’s team, the third component of the team’s winning formula. Green believes the deep feeling that they can come back is crucial to the squad’s success.

“We’ve been down in big matches and have come back,” Green said. “They believe in themselves. That’s been the final piece in the puzzle.”

It's all about about the winning. Photo: Heston Quan

The Mustangs have won 27 of their last 28 matches, the only defeat coming in the Nike TOC Tournament final to Cornerstone Christian-San Antonio TX, a team ranked by many as second best in the country behind Cathedral Catholic-San Diego. 

'Going 1-0'

The journey has included wins over Mater Dei, Lakewood twice, Redondo twice more, and Palos Verdes-Palos Verdes Estates three times.

Green maintains things won’t always proceed smoothly. One of the biggest challenges was their road match at Palos Verdes, won in five sets with a 19-17 finale. Rosenthal belted 24 kills and Wright had 20.

“Our Palos Verdes match at Palos Verdes was pretty incredible,” Green recounted. “We won the first set and they came back on us. They had a swing for the match but we got a block. That’s a tough gym to play in. It’s small and super loud. It was a big one for us in a tough environment. That helped us. That is also one of the coolest parts of high school volleyball in our area. We will draw over one thousand people (for our upcoming section playoff home matches). It’s really special and I tell the girls to embrace it. Our community gets Involved.”

The Southern Section pool play and concluding championship match of November 5 is followed by the CIF SoCal regionals with a title contest on November 15.

The CIF State match against NorCal champions is at Santiago Canyon College in Orange on November 19.

See all CIF volleyball playoff brackets here

The Mustangs have goals along that path, but Green follows the leadership of NFL Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, with whom he overlapped at USC when Green and Carroll both coached there.

“Pete says, ‘We want to go 1-0 every Sunday’,” Green said. “As a coaching staff, we know all those goals are out there, but we just want to go 1-0 each day we play. We have some big matches coming up. It’s been a fun journey so far.”

Got comments, questions or opinions? Email gordon.kass@gmail.com.

All photos by Heston Quan