ORANGE – There were three first-time champions and three that added to their state title haul at the CIF Volleyball State Championships contested last Friday and Saturday at Santiago Canyon College in Orange.
Cathedral Catholic won the Open Division for the second time in three years to bring state title recognition to the San Diego Section. The North Coast Section was represented in the champion’s circle by San Ramon Valley, the Div. II champion. The Southern Section and Central Section each won two titles, with Palos Verdes (Div. I) and South Pasadena (Div. IV) bringing glory to the south, while Central Valley Christian (Div. III) and Immanuel (Div. V) helped the Valley shine.
Here are their stories…
Div. V: Immanuel shifts into high gear
Immanuel played like champions in sweeping to the Div. V title
Junior middle Lily Hughes and sophomore defender Ellsie Riddle have mothers who played for state volleyball championship teams at Immanuel in 1997 and 2001, respectively. They admitted to feeling the pressure to follow suit before Friday afternoon’s Div. V championship match versus Bell Gardens.
They needn’t have worried.
Dominating in virtually every phase, the Eagles (25-21) used several long runs in each set to win in impressive fashion, 25-17, 25-11, 25-15.
“I was nervous before the game,” Hughes said. “My mom told me to take deep breaths. She said it was just a normal game.”
Hughes opened the match with a resounding block for Immanuel, which finished the afternoon with 14 blocks and stifled the Bell Gardens offense, forcing the Lancers to hit negative in each of the three sets.
“Our serve-receive could have been better,” said Bell Gardens coach Caleb Ortiz. “It would have given us more chances to attack their team.”
“We did everything well,” said Immanuel coach Alyssa DenHartog. “They played together. They encouraged each other. They played defense well, served tough, took big swings, moved the ball around, and keyed in on who their big hitters were and what was coming at us.”
Immanuel also piled up runs of points, which transformed competitive sets into decisive wins.
Two Immanuel runs proved the difference in the 25-17 Game 1 win: a 6-1 start and a 6-0 finish. In between, Bell Gardens (23-19) hung in behind solid defensive play from senior libero Emily Hernandez and good swings from senior outside hitter Maggie Chairez. Freshman Addison Semper had five kills and two aces in the first stanza for Immanuel, who won the pass game, led by led by steady libero Mary Degraw. Semper also authored the 6-0 closing run from behind the service line, after Bell Gardens had closed to within 19-17 on its own run of three points, which included a block from Adamari Carillo.
Two long runs from Immanuel also doomed Bell Gardens in Game 2. The Lancers, who entered the game on a nine-match winning streak; came out hot and led 3-0 and 8-6, playing strong defense on the back line, with Chelsea Renteria and Naydelin Arriaga complementing Hernandez.
Bell Gardens had a chance to extend its lead to 9-6 on the ensuing long point, where the ball went back and forth over the net many, many times. It was, however, Spencer Horn, Immanuel’s tough junior lefty right side, who ended the rally with one of her four blocks. Horn added two kills, as did Hughes, in what eventually became a game-changing 10-0 run. Bell Gardens closed to as close as seven on a Karin Toro kill, but the Lancers could get no closer. Horn added two kills and an ace in another Immanuel run late in the set – this one, seven straight points – which extended the Eagles lead to 24-10. Sophomore Claire Horn finished off the 25-11 win with a lefty smash into the corner.
The third and final set featured more of the same. A 4-0 run and two 5-0 runs proved the difference for Immanuel. The first came with the Eagles down, 6-5, after a Chairez kill assisted by Leyah Morales. Tori Visser found the endline to tie for Immanuel, which piled on with kills from Spencer Horn and Addison Effird, assisted by Addie Krause. The second run followed two straight Bells Gardens points and featured two aces and solid defense from Degraw and a Tatum Garza kill. The third made it 19-8 Eagles and allowed DenHartog to fully clear her bench. Aubrey Turmon got in the scoresheet with an assist, Riddle got a dig and Leanne Bishel earlier had a kill for Immanuel, which clinched the title on Semper’s eighth kill of the day.
“I am super proud of our girls and how they showed up and played hard and played with confidence and joy like we talked about doing,” DenHartog said. “What a way to end the season! We are one of just a few teams to end the season with a win.”
Spencer Horn had a great match for the victors. She matched Semper with a match-high eight kills, added four blocks, four aces, and a game-high 27 receptions. It was a great way for the Eagles, who neither won league nor a Central Section title, to finish off their season.
“We were going after a title because we didn’t get league and we didn’t get Valley, so we had to get a title for the season,” said Effird.
Riddle’s mom told her that winning state was more important to the 2001 team than winning a Section title.
“I was excited for us that we were making it this far,” Riddle said. “I get to match my mom and win state before my sisters.”
Bell Gardens may have ended its season of firsts short of a state title, but the takeaways afterward were almost exclusively positive.
“I felt like we played hard and we learned a lot,” Ortiz said. “For not having club players I think we did an amazing job.
“Our goal was to win CIF and then our goal got a little bit bigger,” Ortiz added. He then addressed his team, saying “I am proud that you fought hard, didn’t give up, and, most importantly, walked out of the gym with your heads held up. That was most important to me.”
Hernandez, who finished with a game-high 16 digs, called the journey with the team “very rewarding.”
“It was a very loving experience getting to share the love with everyone and growing together,” she said.
Div. IV: South Pasadena rewrites the script
South Pasadena celebrates its reverse sweep in Div. IV
South Pasadena rebounded from devastating losses in the first two sets to defeat Hilmar, 24-26, 24-26, 25-14, 25-16, 15-8, Saturday afternoon to capture its first-ever state title in volleyball. In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year after graduating nine seniors, South Pasadena unleashed its inner Tiger and found the resolve to come all the way back.
“ I am speechless with this run,” South Pasadena head coach Ivy Chew said. “These girls have proven what they’re capable of.”
South Pasadena built a lead of 24-20 in the first set and 24-21 in the second and could not hold either in the face of stirring Hilmar comebacks.
It was not an unfamiliar story for the Tigers, who lost the first two sets at deuce to Crossroads in the Southern California Regional semifinal just a week earlier before rallying.
“We’ve lost a lot in the first two sets,” senior OH Ava Conti admitted. “We start choking. As soon as we gain the momentum back we’re unbeatable.”
“We did this [last weekend], which made it a lot easier to know that we could come back from anything,” added sophomore libero Ella Garner.
In the huddle before the third set, assistant coach Kalani Tagavilla reminded the team that this story was not yet completely written.
“You guys write your own story,” he said.
That seemed easier said than done, however, given how South Pasadena lost the first two sets.
***
Hilmar (30-10) scored the first two points of Set 1 on a scoring tip from Alyssa Colston and a block from Emily Barroso. But the Yellowjackets, making their first appearance in a state championship match since losing to San Luis Obispo in five sets in 2018, never led by more than two the rest of the way. South Pasadena also never led by more than a pair in a back-and-forth set until Senya Dorny’s tip off the block, at 17-16 South Pasadena, sparked a 3-0 Tiger run. Hilmar answered with a 3-0 run on its own, which started with a Reese Ahlem slide kill; only to see South Pasadena counter with four of the next five, including two Conti kills and a crushing combo block from Kayla Boozer and Olivia Slattery. South Pasadena had four set points and all the momentum.
Down 24-20, Hilmar head coach Patti Harris knew that her charges would not give up.
“This team has a tendency to push hard through difficult situations,” she said. “They have done it all season long.”
After earning a side out, senior Sophie Stivers was summoned and disrupted South Pasadena’s offensive flow with five straight serves deep into the court. With Teygan Horstmeier digging, Stella Pires dealing and Barroso delivering two kills and a block late, Hilmar sent the set to extra points before winning on a Finley Rosa seam shot. Rosa finished with four kills in the set. Conti and Dorny had four apiece for South Pasadena, but Dorny only got six swings because the Tigers did not pass well enough to take advantage of its superiority in the middle.
South Pasadena made some adjustments to start Set 2, switching to a 6-2 offense to let Evan Taylor attack and moving Dorny out wide to take advantage of her big arm. It worked early as Taylor scored twice off of assists from freshman setter Kayla Yau and Dorny swiped one home for a 7-4 Tiger lead. Hilmar rallied to go up two, 10-8, on two Colston kills and a Horstmeier ace, but South Pasadena knotted the score two points later on Jolene Wu’s ace serve.
The set remained tight – no more than two points on either side – with Bella Ventura, Taylor, Conti, and Dorny supplying the offense for South Pasadena and Colston and Barroso getting it done for Hilmar, until a 2-0 run, highlighted by a brilliant Ventura pass, made it 19-15 South Pasadena, the largest lead in the set for either team. The Tigers extended the lead to 21-16 on a Ventura kill and seemed certain to take the set to make it a new match.
Hilmar had other ideas and scored five of the next six points to get to within 22-21. A kill out of the middle from Emma Gomes, two Colston kills and a brilliant Horstmeier dig of a dump attempt were high points of the rally.
Hilmar could not sustain the momentum, thanks to a serving error out of a time-out and a ball-handling error; and trailed 24-21. The Yellowjackets saved one set point when Barroso’s swing split the block. The side out sent Stivers (again!) to the service line and she (again!) served out the set! Kills from Rosa and Gomes and superlative defense from Horstmeier sparked the game-winning rally.
***
While the two losses were just gutting, Chew knew that her South Pasadena team could turn it around if it could build some momentum. Not only had the Tigers rallied from down two sets to beat Crossroads, but they defeated Walnut on the road in the Regional final by coming back from down two sets to one.
“The one thing we have with this team is family and heart,” Chew said. “They leave everything on the court, pushing each other to do better.”
South Pasadena inserted 6-0 junior Isabelle Mullican on the right to start Game 3 and she got touches on swings from Rosa and Colston that helped the Tigers score in transition in a 5-1 momentum-establishing start. Hilmar only got as close as three the rest of the way and trailed by 10 late, 21-11, after a strong sequence from Ventura that included a sprawling fist dig and back-to-back aces. Hilmar had only five kills in the set and made seven errors, including on game point in the 25-14 South Pasadena win.
Strong play from Rosa and Ahlem helped stake Hilmar to an early 9-7 lead in Game 4. The Yellowjackets thought they had increased the lead by one with a swing off the block, but after a long discussion, a violation took the point away and gave it to South Pasadena. That shifted the momentum to the Tigers, who followed with a Taylor ace as part of a 5-0 run that gave them control for good. With Garner, Taylor, and Ventura making eye-popping digs/covers, Wu serving steadily and Dorny controlling the net, South Pasadena pulled away for the 25-16 win to send the match to a decisive fifth set.
South Pasadena had all the momentum going into the final set but Harris knew that her Hilmar squad could turn the tables by applying pressure on South Pasadena from its side of the net. That goal faded quickly, however, when South Pasadena raced to a 5-1 start, building a lead thanks to another tremendous block cover from Garner, kills from Conti and Dorny, and a Dorny/Taylor combo block.
“We tried to keep pressure on them, but they pushed back,” Harris said. “We just couldn’t get a hold of that momentum.”
South Pasadena’s 5-1 lead soon grew to 14-6, as Dorny and Taylor overpowered the Hilmar block, Taylor served an ace and both Boozer and Ventura scored late. Hilmar staved off defeat with two straight points, thanks to a Colston kill off the block and Pires’ ace; but could not avoid the long arms of the 6-2 Boozer on South Pasadena’s third match point. The basketball standout had envisioned helping the Tigers clinch the state title with a match-ending block and made it so, as Hilmar’s swing caromed off of her left arm and straight down to complete the comeback win.
Dorny, Taylor, Conti, and Ventura all finished with 11 or more kills for South Pasadena, which hit .250 or better in each of the last three sets. Taylor added 14 digs and seven blocks. Garner contributed 19 digs and 12 assists. Dorny had six blocks to go along with her 14 kills. It was a complete team effort for South Pasadena (18-16), which started postseason play 10-15 but went 8-1 to finish.
“We had to start at our lowest to find a way to better ourselves,” Chew said. “Our girls may not be the biggest girls but they play big and with a lot of heart.”
Colston and Rosa combined for 24 kills, Rosa and Horstmeier had 17 digs each and Pires contributed 31 assists to Hilmar’s cause. The Yellowjackets hit .342 in Game 2 but .000 or negative in the other four sets.
“Today, our passing was great in serve-receive,” said assistant coach Avery Cano. “Offensively we had a hard time finding floor. They were a really good defensive team.”
“State games are always super tough,” Harris added. “It’s just a tough loss for us.”
Hilmar assistant coach Madison Owens focused on the journey to reaching the state championship match, saying, “This team fought really hard to get here. I think we surprised everyone the whole season on how good we were. We continued to grow and really peaked in the playoffs. That’s not something many teams can do.”
“This group is super special, led by four seniors who were great leaders,” Cano added. “It’s a huge accomplishment to get this far; something they should feel proud of.”
Div. III: Central Valley Christian hops to it
Bucky Kroeze is surrounded by his Central Valley Christian players after the Cavaliers broke through for their first state title in four appearances
After Lola Highstreet’s block sealed Central Valley Christian’s, 25-15, 25-22, 26-24 sweep of Monta Vista Saturday afternoon, and the first state title in Cavalier history, the players celebrated by hopping up and down as one, hands in the air, towards the referee’s stand. CVC coaches Bucky Kroeze and Grace Vander Kooi anticipated that the team would dogpile in celebration and they planned to slide headlong into the pile.
They slid anyway. Nobody saw them. It was awkward but joyous.
“In the moment it felt necessary,” Vander Kooi said.
On a day when CVC outhit, out-blocked, and out-dug their opponents, the celebration was the only thing that seemingly did not go to script for the Cavaliers, who set a program record with their 38th win on the season and became the first Tulare County team ever to win a volleyball state championship.
“We made history at our school,” Highstreet said.
The biggest reason for the win was the Central Valley Christian block, which accounted for nine blocks and countless block touches to just three for Monta Vista.
That may explain why the team chose to hop in the air with hands up in the celebration rather than slide, as that’s what the players did with great effectiveness all match long.
“We haven’t played bigger teams during the entire postseason,” said Nadia Lan, Monta Vista’s first-year head coach. “The teams we play in NorCal tend to be smaller. [The bigger block] is something we were not fully prepared for. In the heat of the moment, the players wanted to show what they had. I think they tried to hit over the block and maybe we overestimated what we could do.”
“The block was huge,” Kroeze said. “I thought they were going to run the middle more but they went outside and our block was huge. Lola, Claire [Phillips], of course, and our pins all got blocks. You guys did phenomenal. All the little stuff that we did in practice paid off.”
CVC got off to a blazing start to the match, bolting to a 7-1 lead in the first set. Sophomore Emerson Kroeze set up Sienna Shaffer, Highstreet, and Ally Lane for kills and an early 3-0 lead; and extended the advantage with backbreaking back-to-back-to-back aces from Lane. The lead grew to as many as 12, 21-9, before Kiana Mark delivered three kills in a row for Monta Vista to make it more interesting. Mark had seven of the team’s 12 kills, as the Matadors struggled to find consistent offense anywhere else, while CVC hit a staggering .429 with balance, as Highstreet, Lane and Emma Mihalcin teamed for 10 kills.
Monta Vista, which had dropped just one set in regional play, stormed to its own 7-1 advantage to start the second set, eager to knot the set score at one apiece. Mark had a kill and her younger sister, Kylee Mark, delivered three aces as part of the hot start. Lan said that generating leads by serving ace after ace had been a calling card for the Matadors all season long.
The lead proved to be short-lived, however, because Central Valley Christian clamped down, using one block after another to change the momentum and the arc of the set. Monta Vista led 12-10, on successive Kylee Mark kills, before Milhalcin recorded a block that sent her back to serve. She served seven straight as part of an 8-0 run, which included devastating Phillips/Shaffer combo blocks; that turned a two-point deficit into a commanding 18-12 lead.
Monta Vista (26-11) battled to get back into the set behind offense from the Mark sisters, the setting of Chloe Chen and defense from Srahi Bobbili and Isabella Wong, but CVC did good things to hold off the Matadors, including a furtive Kroeze dump, which gave the Cavaliers four set points; and Mihalcin’s only kill of the set, which clinched the 25-22 win.
Highstreet started Game 3 with five early kills as CVC built a 6-4 lead. The Cavaliers (38-9) extended their advantage to 13-8, using kills from Mihalcin and Shaffer and two Phillips blocks to push Monta Vista to the edge. The Matadors responded by playing their best ball of the match. They used off-speed shots and finesse from Kiana Mark and Jocelyn Zou, plus a Bobbili ace, to go in front, 16-15.
“In the third set we hit a lot smarter, which we should have done earlier,” Lan said. “We didn’t just try to power through, but instead looked to place the ball.”
Kiana Tom was thinking that Monta Vista could match the comeback of South Pasadena in the Div. IV final played just before then.
“We had so much adversity throughout the season,” she said. “I know we had so much in us and could put up a fight.”
The teams were tied at 16-16 after a Monta Vista hitting error and found themselves tied five more times in the closing stretch until Leah Desai’s kill gave the Matadors set point at 24-23. Lane’s ninth kill of the match – a teardrop – saved the set for CVC and sent Highstreet back onto the court. After a Monta Vista error gave the Cavaliers match point, Highstreet came through with her moment of glory for the first state title after three previous unsuccessful trips.
“It was really cool,” she said. “I really wanted to get back in to hopefully win the game. Just doing that was amazing to be able to do.”
Kiana Mark finished with 15 kills and seven digs and Kylee Mark had seven kills, nine assists, four aces, and 10 digs to lead Monta Vista, which was making its first appearance in a state final.
“Today was a tough match,” Lan said. “Our team hasn’t been used to traveling. The girls gave everything they had today; it was just a very unfamiliar environment. Still, they gave a good fight and I’m very proud of them.”
CVC hit .289 for the match (to .133 for Monta Vista) and displayed great balance, with Highstreet, Lane, Mihalcin, and Shaffer all recording between five and 10 kills. Kroeze finished with 28 assists and added five kills of her own. Phillips had a team-high six blocks and libero Cooper Piepgrass was a steady backrow presence with 13 digs and 13 receptions.
“I knew they had passers that struggled,” Coach Kroeze said. “I knew if we could win the serve and pass game, it would be our game. Today we had only two service errors. I felt like we did a good job of getting them out of system and they couldn’t run an offense as well as they would have liked. It gave us a competitive edge.”
“I feel blessed to have this opportunity and do it with this group of girls,” he added. “There was no one person more important than the other. We sharpened our skills and started working on the details and, every week we came to practice, I could see we were very mindful of what we had to do every single week. We kept improving. A little belief goes a long way and we had it today. Way to go girls.”
Div. II: San Ramon Valley’s tall tale is no lie
It's a first state title in their first finals appearance for the San Ramon Valley Wolves
When San Ramon Valley head coach Brian Fujinaga opened the NorCal Regional brackets to locate his team, he was surprised that he could not find his Wolves in Div. I. After all, SRV had finished 11-2 in the rugged East Bay Athletic League, third in Div. 1 of the North Coast Section, and had more wins and the same losses as last year, when the team had the same conference record and NCS finish while earning the third seed in Div. I.
Instead, he found his team as the top seed in Div. II.
“I thought I did something wrong,” he admitted.
Reflecting further, Fujinaga understood why SRV didn’t make the Div. I field and told his team that they now had a perfect opportunity to get after it and win State.
On Saturday, San Ramon Valley, with every starter save libero Ali Cook standing 6-0 or taller, did just that, overcoming a first-set loss to defeat scrappy Centennial of Bakersfield in four sets to capture its first title in its first trip to the championship match.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this group of girls,” Fujinaga said. “When we started this journey together in August, I don’t think any of us had this idea that we would go so far.”
The difference in the match was height. San Ramon Valley’s massive advantage in that area over a Centennial team with no starter taller than 5-11 meant that the Golden Hawks had to play near-flawless volleyball to stand toe-to-toe with the Wolves.
“Our game plan was to serve tough to try to slow them down,” said Centennial head coach Kim Harper. “We wanted to make them a little uncomfortable in transition, try to block some balls and pursue. It worked. Sometimes.”
The first set was a classic struggle and the stats reflected so. Both teams hit .250 with roughly the same amount of kills. Both teams had roughly the same amount of digs and aces and San Ramon Valley had only a marginal advantage in blocks. That may explain why the set was tied 12 times, including at 21-all, after Centennial OH Ila Rose powered a left-handed strike through the San Ramon Valley block.
After the point, Cook, San Ramon Valley’s rock in serve-receive, went to the ground in obvious pain. Her heavily-braced left knee, which she had dislocated midway through the season, gave out a little bit. If she couldn’t go, SRV’s chances, which depended heavily on strong first-ball contact to take advantage of its power at the net; would almost certainly be dashed. Fortunately for the Wolves, after some rest and a little TLC, Cook was able to stay in the game.
“It just hurt for a few seconds,” she said.
The teams split the next two points to tie the score one last time at 22-22. San Ramon Valley had gotten to this point thanks to steady setting from Kate Stern, four Ellie Hunt kills, and two aces from Barrett Brown. Centennial countered with five kills combined from Rose and freshman middle Brooke Towle and smart setting from Morgan George. Rose and Towle would each deliver one more kill in the end game as part of a 3-0 closing run that gave the Golden Hawks the first set, 25-22.
After the set, Fujinaga told his team that this was not an unfamiliar position for them.
“Let’s collectively regain our momentum and start executing our game like we know how,” he stressed.
San Ramon Valley’s players took the advice to heart because, after yielding two early points on kills from Kate Johns and Rose, the Wolves scored 16 of the next 17. Hope Dieckmann served nine points, including an ace, in that initial 10-0 run. Cook served five points, including an ace, in the ensuing 6-0 run. Lucy Chertock, the team’s leading hitter, was a beast during that definitive stretch, slamming home nine kills after recording just two in the first set.
“I think the biggest thing in that one rotation, with Hope serving, is she was serving really tough and getting them out of system,” observed Chertock, a University of New Hampshire signee. “And Kate Stern was giving me the most dime sets I’ve ever had in my life.”
Hunt, a 6-1 senior pin; and Jenna Hunt, a 6-3 junior middle; picked up the slack after that, combined for five of SRV’s final six points in the 25-15 win, a set in which the Wolves dominated to the tune of 17 kills in 27 swings.
Game 3 started with a tandem block from Stern and 6-3 sophomore middle Rachel Richardson, but it evolved into a reprise of the tight first set rather than the blowout that was the second. Neither team led by more than two points at any stage, there were 16 tie scores and eight lead changes. A 4-0 run that started with a Richardson rejection and ended with a massive Chertock stuff block turned around a 21-19 deficit that Centennial had built on the strength of middle kills from Jordan Kennedy, a fiery junior; and superhuman Superman digs from sophomore libero Kathryn Wulff-Smith. The teams sided out the rest of the way and Chertock’s fifth kill of the set capped the 25-23 win. Centennial had done everything possible to win the set, yet found itself after three on the wrong side of a 2-1 deficit.
“We learned that they are a very consistent team,” Harper said. “They did a good of managing out-of-system balls and putting them over with tempo.”
The fourth and final set was just as dramatic as the first and the third, albeit with fewer lead changes. Kennedy scored twice early to put Centennial up 4-1. San Ramon Valley (31-8) moved to the lead, 6-5, thanks to a Jenna Hunt block, and soon the Wolves were looking at a 16-11 bulge following a Chertock kill and Diekmann ace. Centennial did not say “Uncle” and instead battled to within one, at 17-16, thanks to kills from Towle and Rose. Six more times the Golden Hawks got within one, as their hustle helped win 50-50 points and Rose, Wulff-Smith and Natalie Alcorn stood on their heads defensively. San Ramon Valley remained focused, used its height to side out with big swings and key blocks, and prevented Centennial from going on any significant runs down the stretch.
Leading by just one at 23-22, San Ramon Valley earned two match points thanks to a combo block from Richardson and Sophia Vella. Centennial (30-10) was able to save one when Rose got a touch call on a heavy swing. The next Golden Hawk attack, however, sailed long. They had fought bravely and showed tons of game, but came up just short to the state-champion Wolves.
Rose and Kennedy led the Centennial attack with 15 and 12 kills, respectively. Freshman Alex Marshall added nine on 18 swings. George finished with 40 assists and was one of four Golden Hawks, along with Alcorn, Rose, and Wulff-Smith, to have 10 or more digs. Rose had 54 of the team’s 77 receptions, a staggering number.
All in all, it was a strong showing for a team that was 19-13 a year ago and making its first state championship appearance in almost 30 years.
“I’m really proud of how these girls played hard,” Harper said. “They definitely came out ready to play. We made some good in-game adjustments that gave us opportunities. We never quit and I am really impressed by their team dynamic and how well they did representing Centennial and Bakersfield.”
“I think our dynamic is so good as a team,” Marshall added. “We all work together and push and persevere. If we’re down we know how to get back up.”
As good as Centennial was this year, the future may be even brighter (hard to imagine since they are Central Section academic champions out of 138 schools). Five core players will return: Rose, Kennedy, Wulff-Smith, Marshall, and Towle.
“I just said to the girls that are leaving that they definitely left the program in a better spot than when they got here,” Harper said. “They have done exactly what you hope to do and have left a legacy that hopefully we’re going to chase. It’s been a long time since Centennial made it to a state championship game. That now hopefully will be our standard as we pursue the opportunity to be in big games.”
San Ramon Valley hit .245 in the win, led by Chertock and Ellie Hunt, who teamed for 35 kills. Stern had 42 assists and five kills on eight swings, and Richardson had eight block assists to lead a front row that out-blocked Centennial, 13-5. Four Wolves had 10 or more digs, including Cook, who added a team-high receptions with 32 and zero receiving errors!
“I thought the back row did a fantastic job!” exclaimed Fujinaga. “Only four reception errors throughout the match was pretty fantastic. It seemed like as long as we had a pretty good first ball contact that we were able to execute the offense the way we wanted to.”
“They’re a really good team,” the coach added. “I felt like if we could execute our offense, with our collective height and ability to hit the ball, that they wouldn’t be able to effectively slow us down. I couldn’t imagine this team coming together better than they did tonight.”
Div. I: Palos Verdes charms in win
Palos Verdes made the third time a charm in Div. I
Twice, over the previous two years, Palos Verdes came to Orange as the favorite to win a Div. I state title. Twice the Sea Kings fell agonizingly short, losing 15-13 in the fifth to Branson in 2022 and to Valley Christian of San Jose, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22, last year.
The team vowed to be back again this year and needed to play with purpose and conviction to make that happen, and defeated four teams that are or were ranked among the state’s top 25, including top-seeded Huntington Beach; to reach the state championship match for the third straight year.
Friday night, Palos Verdes (29-9) stared down the pressure of having to win to avoid ignominy and did not blink. The Sea Kings played a near-flawless match to defeat a very good Foothill of Pleasanton squad, 25-14, 25-11, 25-23, to capture their first-ever volleyball state championship.
“We came out super strong,” said Lacey Minzlaff, PV’s second-year head coach. “This being our third year here we were hoping for this outcome. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
“Not every team knows what it’s like to lose two years,” said senior setter Mallory Labreche. “Everyone came together. It just feels so great.”
Kaci Demaria, the 6-4 senior OH headed to Stanford, was brilliant for Palos Verdes. She had 24 kills over the three sets, including the clincher, and hit .346 against a Foothill defense keying on stopping her.
Molly Labreche, the senior libero bound for beach volleyball at LSU, also was brilliant. She had 22 digs – a massive number for a high-level three-set match – and was effective slowing down Foothill star attacker Kaycie Burdick’s signature cut shot.
“We’re going to make you work for every point,” she said. “We’re not letting one ball go down without effort.”
Mallory Labreche, who will play on the sand at UCLA, may have been the best player on the floor. She finished with 28 assists, 11 digs, nine kills against just one error, and SIX blocks, doing “Mallory things” to impact the match in virtually every phase.
While those “big three” carried Palos Verdes in this match and have been essential to team success all year long, the supporting cast – every one of them – played effectively in their role. Jadyn Foran, a freshman middle, had a match-high seven blocks. Pamela O’Keefe, a sophomore playing opposite, had two blocks, and her four kills on nine swings added balance to the offense. Senior DS Ava Hassanein was a rock in serve-receive and her serving, which included a match-high three aces; generated one point-scoring run after another. Mia Serpa, Olivia Hirsch, Kayla Leone, Logan Hunter…all made contributions in what was an impressive, overwhelming display of volleyball skill and acumen.
It must have been thrilling for Minzlaff and PV faithful to watch it all come together at the most opportune time.
“We served really tough and our serve-receive was great,” Minzlaff observed. “I felt like we stayed consistent with what we needed to do. The last few games we’ve had up to this point we’ve just been playing really great. I felt good going into today because those were really hard matches going into a final and we rose to the occasion. I knew we had what it took to stay steady.”
There was reason for Palos Verdes to be concerned about Foothill coming into this match. The Falcons were battle-tested, both by league play and throughout the post-season, and were a smaller team with strong outsides, like Valley Christian last year and Branson the year before.
Palos Verdes exorcised the ghosts of past finals by playing with aggression and to win, rather than focusing on “let’s not lose.”
The first set was knotted at 6-6 when Demaria’s fourth kill put the Sea Kings ahead for good. Two combo blocks followed, with Foran involved in each; and Mallory Labreche finished on two to complete a 4-0 run that gave Palos Verdes both a comfortable margin and confidence. A 9-0 run a little bit later, which included three more Demaria kills and two Hassanein aces; effectively put the finishing touches on the 25-11 win.
Game 2, a 25-14 win, featured more of the same for Palos Verdes. Demaria had another six kills and a soul-crushing block on a tip try, and this game showcased the massive impact Mallory Labreche makes every time she plays. She commanded the court with her deft setting and scrappy digs, used her length to come up with big blocks, and her sense of the game to attack opportunistically. Palos Verdes hit over .400 in the set with 17 digs and eight blocks. Only senior middle Lulu Hoenninger and senior outside Kaitlyn Vogel stood out for Foothill, which substituted liberally trying to find a formula that worked.
The real Foothill showed up in the third and final set. With Vogel and Olivia So taking care of serve-receive and Paige Nelson setting up her hitters, the Falcons played point-for-point with Palos Verdes and led six different times, the last at 20-19 after Sophia Burdick connected from the right side. PV tied the score on an O’Keefe tip, then added two more Demaria kills, the second of which ended a long, intense rally and helped the Sea Kings match their biggest lead of the set.
Fighting to stay alive, Foothill scrapped to within one point three times in the late stages of the set, aided by a kill from Hoenninger and subsequently by her block in tandem with Nelson. But with the state championship on the line, Palos Verdes turned one last time to Demaria and she responded resoundingly to end the set, 25-23, clinch the win, and make the third time a charm for the Div. I champion.
“It wasn’t just about the final kill; it was the whole game and firing on all cylinders,” Demaria said. “We worked really hard and had a lot of pressure on us. We wanted to do it for each other.”
After the match, Foothill head coach Dusty Collins wanted his team focused on the fact that his team won second rather than lost in the state final.
“The fact that we got to this point is the biggest thing I want them to take away,” he said. “A lot of teams are going to hang their heads after two tough set losses. This team fought in that third set and made it a very competitive third set. THAT is what I’ll take away from this match. Did we play our best volleyball tonight? No. We’re capable of playing better, so that’s frustrating, but we battled like we have all year long to see if we could get back into this match. That’s what I’ll take away.”
Vogel finished with eight kills to lead the Foothill offense. Hoenninger and high-powered Kaycie Burdick had seven apiece for a Falcon team that hit only .053 for the match and never could find a way through or around the PV block.
“We didn’t pass as crisply as we did throughout the year so it was very obvious where we were setting,” Collins observed. “In Game 3, we played a better serve-receive game for sure and more off-speed shots started to land. We got a few blocks ourselves, too, towards the end.”
Foothill finished 30-11 one year after fashioning a 37-2 mark that included a North Coast Section title in Div. 1. The Falcons graduated two superstars off of that team, which caused many to overlook them.
“After last season, when we had one of the best seasons a Foothill team has ever had, I thought to myself that we can’t have as good of a year,” Kaycie Burdick admitted. “To be able to win our league and go as far as we did, I think we proved a lot of people wrong and ourselves, too.
“The difference is we played as a team every single game. We were outsized every match we played and we played against a lot of DI commits. We just had to stick together and fight for every point. I’m proud of this team.”
As for Palos Verdes, which was not really a factor in the Bay League until the past three years; this may be the end of an era. Minzlaff was the club coach for many on the roster, which includes six seniors; when they first started playing club at age 10-11.
If it is, the adversity the team faced and the way they changed the narrative on Friday night will not soon be forgotten.
“I’m so proud to end it on a bang,” Molly Labreche said.
Open Division: It’s Mae in November for Cathedral Catholic
Cathedral Catholic storms the court after capturing a second Open title in three years
Mae Kordas was a uniformed spectator, cheering on her teammates from the sidelines when Cathedral Catholic’s superstar-laden 2022 team swept Saint Francis of Mountain View to complete an undefeated season with the CIF Open Division title and the mythical national championship.
On Saturday, the Yale-bound 6-3 senior was the star of stars – 18 kills on 35 swings; five blocks; seven digs – in the Dons’ 25-21, 25-20, 25-16 sweep of Archbishop Mitty to claim the Open Division title for the second time in three seasons.
Nothing could scare Kordas; not the triple block when the pin hitter put away high balls with ease out of the middle and certainly not the spider that rappelled down from the rafters in the middle of the second set.
“[Kordas] is really good at what she does and puts a lot of pressure on our team and makes you feel uncomfortable,” said Archbishop Mitty’s fourth-year head coach Jon Wallace. “We had three days to prepare for them and did a good job, but you don’t see a 2 in the middle very often, especially with that kind of electric arm.”
“Mae…wow!” exclaimed Cathedral Catholic head coach Julianna Conn. “Mae was just a killer! We knew people didn’t know enough about Mae to stop her. It was fun to see someone who was not a middle be lights out.”
Cathedral Catholic’s victory was its seventh all-time in state championship finals in eight appearances, good for a tie for fifth all-time. The Dons are now seven behind Mitty’s record 14 championships. The Monarchs lost in a state final for the seventh time and second time in a row. They lost last year to state and national champion Mater Dei, the team Cathedral Catholic ousted on Tuesday in the Southern California Regional final.
Kordas was hardly the only player who shined for Cathedral Catholic. The Dons’ other two middles, Kensley Hennessy and Allison Dzieciuch, combined to hit an astounding .700 with 14 kills against zero errors. Setters Kale’a Lee and Lauren Hanson combined for 40 assists. Pins Sophia Johnson, Jojo Wilson, and Madyson McCarthy totaled 18 kills and were steady scorers. And libero Maya Evens, the only starter back from the 2022 championship team, did a little bit of everything, with nine assists, two aces, nine digs, and 21 receptions. She anchored a back row that communicated effectively and was pretty flawless controlling the ball.
It was a strong team effort overall, with everyone on the floor contributing in meaningful ways.
“I give their team a lot of credit,” Wallace said. “They dug a lot better than we thought they were going to dig. They mixed up their serve and did a good job of making us feel uncomfortable.”
Archbishop Mitty came into Saturday’s final with momentum, having swept three straight NorCal Regional opponents. Better yet, the Monarchs were at full strength after playing much of the season without OH Makenna Crosson and RS Izzy Romero. So, when Mitty opened the match on a 3-0 run, which included an ace from freshman sensation Chayse Courtney and a combo block from Romero and Jasmine Shum; there was hope that this Open final would be competitive, unlike the sweeps that had been the usual outcome since the Open Division started in 2016.
Alas, it was not to be. Cathedral Catholic fought back with a 3-0 run of its own, which started with a Johnson kill on the right and included an Evens ace and Wilson kill; and took the lead for good, 7-5, on a Wilson ace.
“It was a little bit tense in the beginning but once we started playing our game, playing like we did throughout the whole state run, we knew we were going to do well,” Conn said.
Here’s the thing about this, and most, Cathedral Catholic teams: they do not beat themselves. They talk, take good swings, are in position on the block and they play steady. Teams that want to beat Cathedral Catholic – easier said than done given that the Dons had dropped just three sets during a 23-match winning streak before Saturday – have to affirmatively beat them rather than hoping they will self-destruct. Mitty had flashes of success in all three sets but invariably found themselves down by eight or more points in each of them.
Kordes had three early kills for Cathedral Catholic and got a fourth, to extend the Dons’ lead to 11-7, when she dug a hard-driven ball over the net to an open part of the court. When you’re getting kills like that, it’s going to be a good night. Senior Leyna Nguyen, who was a star on the outside when Mitty was playing shorthanded, gave the Monarchs a spark off the bench, with two kills and five digs, but it wasn’t enough. Cathedral Catholic is relentless and always extending its lead, it seems. Soon, after another Kordes kill, another Wilson ace, and nice defense from Wilson and Hanson, Cathedral Catholic had made its lead insurmountable at 21-12. Mitty played great in the end game, behind the hitting of Crosson and Courtney and the all-around excellence of Nguyen, and got within 24-21, but Cathedral Catholic closed out the set on an easy kill from the 6-4 Dzieciuch in the middle, set up expertly by Lee.
Mitty, which hit .171 in the first set, hit 150 points higher in the second. It was not nearly enough, because Cathedral Catholic, which hit .222 in the first set, hit more than 200 points higher in the second! When Kordas notched her sixth kill of the stanza, just before removing the spider; the Dons, who were embroiled in a two-point game midway through, now found themselves up eight, 21-13. Mitty, again, was the better team in the closing stretch, starting with a kill from Katelyn Sentous, assisted by terrific setter Kacie Caoili, but the Monarchs could get no nearer than four points before Dzieciuch was targeted to close out the set.
The third set began with Mitty playing Cathedral Catholic point for point. Crosson, a junior committed to Minnesota, had three early kills, and veteran libero Nicole Macalintal impressed with a pancake dig for the Monarchs, who led 5-3, then fell behind by three before rallying to tie at 11-11 on a Kaylee Ernst dunk. Dzieciuch untied the score with a kill for Cathedral Catholic. Evens, who played a big role start to finish in the set for the Dons – passing digging, serving, setting – followed with an ace. Hanson and Wilson had aces later in what would become a 9-2 run, which blew the game wide open. Mitty (29-7) wasn’t quite as good in the end game in this one, while Cathedral Catholic was steady as ever. When Mitty’s final swing sailed wide, Cathedral Catholic had a nine-point win for set, match, and the Open Division title.
The loss was the third for Wallace in the Open final – and second sweep -- over his four years as Mitty’s head coach. It was hard for him to take.
“It’s terrible,” he said. “Not how we wanted to play. Not who we wanted to be. Nothing to do with their preparation or effort. Them as people or them as players. They are an amazing group. It’s just bad to lose like that. Our first meeting is about this day. We worked every day focused on being here. It sucks.”
While Cathedral Catholic (46-3) prepared for the final by defeating state top 10 Torrey Pines, Los Alamitos, Redondo Union, and Mater Dei in succession, Mitty’s route was a lot less taxing.
“Their gauntlet that they had to go through to get here is much tougher than ours,” Wallace observed. “They get tested and challenged and learn a lot more during the year than we do or need to. That’s always been a bit of a problem since I’ve been at Mitty. I feel like we do a good job in our region and area to be the best. This year we won nine straight sets and were playing really good volleyball and we come here and it’s a different animal we have to deal with. If we played them or teams like them more time during the year, this group in particular would learn and adapt and be much better prepared for it.”
Crosson and Courtney, who will both be back next year, combined for 24 of Mitty’s 38 kills in the match. Nguyen was third with five. Caoili had 29 assists. Macalintal tied for the team-high with nine digs and received serve 33 times.
Wallace did say that this has been by far his favorite group to coach during his Mitty tenure.
“We were without players all year long and the girls that were on the court did an amazing job,” he said. “When the girls came back, every single person put the team first. They were all in to win. The tightest group. Excited to practice and get to work.”
“The journey itself was the best thing,” Macalintal said. “I’m grateful but sad it’s over.”
Kordas led Cathedral Catholic with those 18 kills. She made just two errors and hit .457, often against triple blocks designed specifically to stop her.
“Did we have three up, two up, and in a good spot?” Wallace asked. “Yeah. Did she go make a great hit? Yeah.”
“I told our setters to go to her until they can stop it,” Conn said.
Nobody could.
In the pre-season form that Cathedral Catholic filled out for the CIF State office, assistant coach Cody Rose said: “2024 will be the year of Mae Kordas.” He and Conn had seen her become an absolute force during a breakout club season. They were absolutely right. She was unstoppable!
“We had to work so hard, and I’m so proud of everyone,” Kordas said. “It still doesn’t feel real.”
Cathedral Catholic’s championship came one year after graduating All-American middle Jenna Hanes, veteran setter Amanda Saeger, and versatile six-rotation standouts Tiana Owens, Ayva Moi, and Nicki Egan. The Dons wouldn’t be rebuilding, but they were going to be different. Their pre-season rank of No. 11 statewide reflected that uncertainty.
“From Day 1 we knew we had a great team; we just didn’t know how far we could come,” Conn said. “Once we realized that all we have to do is have fun, play hard, and play for each other, we just got into a really good rhythm. When State hit we were playing really good volleyball, we got a good seed, teams came to us, we played better and better every day. Coming here today and winning state is what we worked for. They were a little bit underestimated and just brought it today.”