Seaside captures national volleyball championship

07-08-2006

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

San Diego's Seaside Volleyball Club's 18-Black team won the Boys 18 National Open Championship Saturday at the The 2006 USA Junior Olympic Boys’ Volleyball Championships at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minnesota.

Seaside won with a 25-17, 23-25, 15-11 victory over 18 Synergy Walt (Santa Clarita, Calif.). Seaside 18-Black advanced to the championship with a 22-25, 25-15, 15-9 semifinal victory over Surf City 18s Asics (Huntington Beach, Calif.).

Seaside was led by tournament MVP Chase Budinger, the Arizona-bound basketball recruit from La Costa Canyon High. He was the CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year in volleyball for the third straight season and the national player of the year by "Volleyball Magazine."

"We won national titlies in 1992 and 1997, and I really didn't think we'd win one again because the L.A. teams and teams in the rest of the country have improved so much," said Seaside Volleyball Club Director Fred Featherstone. "But we're fortunate to have to have two athletes the caliber of Chase and Garrett Muagututia."

Seaside 18-Black played three consecutive three-set matches in the gold bracket as it defeated Outrigger B18 18-25, 25-19, 15-10 in the quarterfinals.

Muaguatutia, from Francis Parker, is UCLA scholarship recruit in volleyball. Other Division I recruits on the team included Stanford-bound Ed Howell (Cathedral Catholic) and Long Beach State-bound Kory Matsukado (Rancho Bernardo).

Budinger, Muagututia and setter Alex Scattarregia, a Rancho Bernardo High senior in the fall, were named to the All-American team.