DIVISION I: T.O. MEETS ITS MATCH LOSS GIVES LANCERS SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT ST. JOHN BOS. 3, T.O. 0.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Staff Writer

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - Following Wednesday's Southern Section Division II boys' volleyball semifinal, Saint John Bosco of Bellflower coach Randy Totorp met Thousand Oaks middle blocker Kevin Rex and offered him a spot on his club volleyball team. He also liked setter Chip Neff.

Rex said he would consider it, although he would probably have preferred to be thinking about the Southern Section championship match. But third-seeded Saint John Bosco took care of that, eliminating Rex and the Lancers 15-4, 15-9, 15-13 at Westlake High.

Saint John Bosco (39-1) controlled the match almost from the start on ITS way to the final, where it will play top-seeded Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach on Saturday at Cypress College. Thousand Oaks (19-5) was denied a berth in a section final for the second time since 1994.

It was a frustrating finish to the season for the Lancer's eight seniors. They wanted to beat Marmonte League rival Royal for just the second time since league play began in 1990. They didn't. They wanted to reach the division final but came up short.

``That's the story of our season,'' Rex said. ``When we're playing hot, we can't be stopped. The inconsistency killed us.''

The Lancers led 1-0 in the first game and 5-1 and 10-6 in the third game but played from behind much of the night. Rex had 18 kills, but his supporting cast - Danny Raven (10 kills), Micah Porter (seven kills) and Brett Kohout (seven kills, six blocks) - wasn't effective enough to overcome Saint John Bosco's big hitters.

UC Irvine-bound outside hitter Paul Spittle had 32 kills, Long Beach State-bound middle blocker Kevin Cape had 24 kills and junior opposite hitter Brian Villaroman had 13 kills.

``We had four goals at the beginning of the season: Win the Redondo preseason tournament, win the Las Vegas tournament, win league and make CIF finals,'' Totorp said. ``And now, we did it.''

But Saint John Bosco wasn't perfect. The Braves needed eight game points to win the second game. And the Braves committed 17 service errors.

But Saint John Bosco played tough when it needed to. When Thousand Oaks pulled within 13-13, the Braves played through some sideouts and won on consecutive Spittle kills.

``It's hard to get momentum when every time you do something, they do something greater,'' Rex said. ``They took us out of our game.''

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Photo:

Thousand Oaks High's Jeff Kirby tries to find the seam against St. John Bosco in the Southern Section Division I semifinals.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer