Culver City High School boys’ volleyball fairy-tale season continued last Saturday, May 16, at Cerritos College in Norwalk when the Centaurs won the CIF Division 6 Volleyball Championship. They beat a very good Garden Grove team in a thrilling five set match that kept everyone in the gym on the edge of their seats.
The final score was 3-2 with Culver City winning the first two sets and Garden Grove winning the next two sets. The Centaurs snatched the momentum away from the Garden Grove Argonauts in the final set, winning 15-9.
What made the 2026 volleyball season so magical is the Centaurs played the whole season without a high school gym. The gym was floored in November during the heavy rains. They had to practice in the Culver City Middle School gym, and they had to play 29 games out of 31 on the road in hostile environments. They were able to convince the school to let them play two of the playoff games in their home gym at the end of the season.
The Centaurs finished the season with a record of 23-8. Their 8th loss came in a State Regional game against Bonita Vista High School 136 miles away from Culver City in Chula Vista last Tuesday. The final score of that game was 3-0.
But regardless of what happened last Tuesday the Centaurs boys’ volleyball team are CIF Champions, and the banner will hang in their gym forever. “This is the best day of my high school career,” said a jubilant Casey Brennan after they beat Garden Grove. “They took us to the fifth set, but we were confident going into the final set. We won that fifth set 15-9.”
How can a team win a major championship without a gym? “It’s called pride and love for the game,” said Brennan. “All of my teammates love the game as much as I do. We all fought extremely hard. No one thought that we would be where we are right now, but we won the championship. It didn’t matter what the obstacles were that were in our way we found a way to overcome them.”
Culver City High School 15-year veteran volleyball coach Joe Manzo seemed cool and calm throughout the whole season despite all the problems created by the floors in November. “Yeah, it’s amazing,” said Manzo after the championship win. “These kids were so determined. This championship is not for me, it’s for the school, the team and for the kids. I just enjoy giving back and having a bunch of guys push themselves to be the best they can be. The result is incredible.”
Manzo said that one of the most challenging parts about winning championships is keeping the kids focused on getting better and not getting too overconfident. “It feels good but sometimes the kids get too comfortable. We have to continue to work on their physical game and their mental toughness.”
Team captain Ken Hasegawa had this to say after the championship game. “It feels amazing. We had to practice in the middle school gym all season, but we had great coaching and great teammates. We are all like family. We will come back strong next year with the same good chemistry and hopefully we can be back-to-back CIF Champions.”
