LA COSTA ---- Any time a team has 30 more kills than its opponent in a girls volleyball match, that team should win.

In the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs, that kind of a margin normally gets a ticket punched to the next round. Not so for La Costa Canyon High.

One year after a dream season produced the first state championship in Mavericks history, the team's hope for back-to-back state titles was dashed Tuesday night in the opening round. The No. 2-seeded Mavericks were within a game of advancing to this Saturday's Division I semifinals until Huntington Beach crept in and stunned host LCC with a 17-25, 25-23, 15-25, 25-20, 17-15 victory.

In the end, the Mavericks (28-6) were done in by their own mistakes as the No. 7 Oilers (19-12) tallied 99 points on only 39 kills and 19 blocks.

"To come into their gym and knock them off is kind of how we've played lately,'' Huntington Beach coach Craig Pazanti said. "The funny thing is we haven't played particularly well on the road this year."

Huntington Beach will be back on the road Saturday against No. 3 Newport Harbor. Meanwhile the Mavericks begin the countdown to the end of their reign as state champions.

"We always feel we can come back, and that was no different this time," LCC coach Pat McDougall said. "I didn't think we'd have a problem with them, but we're certainly capable of not playing our best all the time."

The Mavericks had little trouble establishing their bid for advancement in Game 1 only to give up that advantage in the second game. Back on top after winning Game 3, the Mavs fell behind 8-0 and trailed 11-2 before their offense kicked in during the fourth game. Senior setter Kendall Polan's kill cut the Oilers' lead to 23-20, but Huntington Beach answered with a kill and the Mavericks made another mistake to tie the match and set up a fifth game.

Huntington Beach took a 5-2 lead, but La Costa Canyon scored 10 of the next 16 points to lead 12-11.

But the Mavs couldn't hold it.

Polan had a block and a kill to tie the game at 14 and again at 15, but La Costa Canyon made two more unforced errors and stunned the home crowd with the 17-15 loss.

"I'm disappointed in myself,'' said Polan, who had 16 kills, two blocks and three aces. "We did this to ourselves. We were the better team.''

The Oilers advanced behind 14 kills from Kellie Turner and 11 kills and seven blocks from 6-foot-6 Long Beach State-bound Haleigh Hampton. Andrea Streips added 10 kills as well.

The Mavs were led by sophomore Karsta Lowe's 18 kills while senior Natalie Hagglund had 11 kills and an ace for LCC, which owned a 69-39 edge in kills.

"We've been playing with house money since the quarterfinals of our (Southern Section Division IA) playoffs,'' Pazanti said. "This match was very up-and-down, but we know what we have to do to stay in matches, although we didn't do it in the section finals against (Santa Barbara) Dos Pueblos.

"We got a lot of I-told-you-sos after that loss.''

Now it's the Mavs who will get that treatment.

Contact staff writer Terry Monahan at 760-739-6648.