Whatever one may think of the San Diego Section’s new competition-based playoff system, make no mistake that it’s moved South County teams into the spotlight.
This weekend, three South County girls volleyball teams will play for section division championships: Otay Ranch in Division II, Olympian in Division III and Chula Vista High Tech in Division V.
All three teams are making their first finals appearances.
Dream girls
Fourth-seeded CV High Tech (17-8) will face third-seeded Sage Creek Academy (4-16) in Friday’s Division V championship game at 5 p.m. at Canyon Crest Academy. The Bruins advanced by upsetting top-seeded Preuss Academy in a stunning three-game sweep Wednesday at UC San Diego, winningn 25-11, 25-12, 25-18.
Preuss entered Wednesday’s semifinal match with a 10-1 record on the season.
“Our girls volleyball team has been improving all year,” CVHT athletic director Alan Botterman said. “They played bigger schools for the first half of their season which gave them the court experience they needed to excel in their division.”
Top-seeded Olympian will face 11th-seeded San Marcos in Saturday’s Division II championship game at 11 a.m. at Cathedral Catholic High School. The host Eagles topped fifth-seeded El Camino 25-17, 25-17, 25-16 in Tuesday’s semifinals to advance to their first finals appearance.
Olympian takes a 23-10 record into Saturday’s final while the upset-minded Knights are 9-18.
The Division II title game is scheduled Saturday at 1:15 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic and will pit sixth-seeded Otay Ranch (26-9) against top-seeded Ramona (30-6).
The Mustangs continued their playoff mission by eliminating second-seeded Pacific Ridge (25-8) in four games in Wednesday’s semifinals. The Bulldogs powered past fifth-seeded Calvin Christian in Wednesday’s semis to secure the championship date with Otay Ranch.
Hot streak
Lauren Appleman keyed Olympian with 15 kills in Tuesday’s win over the Wildcats while Khalia Jordan contributed 12 kills and six aces. Yvette Macias racked up 18 digs to power the team defensively.
San Marcos defeated second-seeded Imperial 25-19, 18-25, 25-8, 25-16 on Tuesday to advance to meet the Eagles. Chloe Evering led the Lady Knights with 14 kills and also recorded five aces while teammates Daphne Norris recorded 15 digs and Dani Sugano collected 36 assists, respectively.
Olympian swept ninth-seeded Helix 25-16, 25-9, 25-22 in last Friday’s quarterfinals while El Camino upset fourth-seeded Serra 3-2 in a five-game thriller.
Jordan and Appleman lead the Eagles with 343 and 254 kills, respectively, while Jordan has a team-leading 65 aces, Macias has a team-leading 518 digs and Krista Schmidt has a team-leading 467 assists.
Taylor Roberts leads Olympian with 66 blocks, followed by teammate Carolina Villa with 62 blocks.
Otay Ranch entered Wednesday’s semifinal-round fresh off an upset of third-seeded Mission Hills last Saturday. The Lady Mustangs won a five-game nail-biter 26-24, 25-19, 27-29, 19-25, 16-14.
Otay Ranch “aced” the Lady Grizzlies (22-14) on the strength of 24 aces, including six by Ryann Mojica and five by Grecio Cordero and four each by Elise Ramirez and Kayla Devaney. Cordero also registered 20 kills.
CV High Tech downed fifth-seeded Calipatria in four games in last Saturday’s quarterfinals to advance to Wednesday’s semifinals. The Bruins finished 6-2 in Pioneer League play, placing runner-up to San Diego High Tech (8-0 in league play).
Haley Gorman had seven kills in the win over Preuss while Ashley Fernando recorded nine aces.
Mighty Mustangs
Cory Gove, an international men’s volleyball player, soared to success in just his first year at the helm after taking over the Otay Ranch program from former coach Janis Redmond, who had been with the Lady Mustangs in some capacity since 2004.
Otay Ranch athletic director Ian Cumming said he is obviously thrilled any time one of the school’s teams advances to a San Diego CIF Championship game. He said he was especially proud of this season’s girls volleyball team and its coaches for several reasons.
“When you switch from such an outstanding coach as coach Redmond, there is a struggle within each of the athletes as to what changes will occur that are different than the winning ways that have been developed. As a new coach, no matter how knowledgeable you are in the sport, it is toughest to follow a very successful coach because they and their coaching practices are so highly regarded.
“Both the coaches and players have found their way through this transitional season and have obviously come out the far side believing in one another. Added to this battle was just the day they encountered. A semi-final match on the road is a highly emotional day with excitement and nervousness. As the team prepared to leave, the bus was later than previously expected and then broke down on the way to the game causing about a 50- to 60- minute delay in arrival time. The game was moved back some to accommodate these issues, but waiting for a second bus most definitely caused increased anxiousness.
“The ability to overcome this says a lot about how special this team is and the fact that they have good leadership from their coaches.”
End of the road
The Eastlake High School girls volleyball team’s playoff ride ended in Tuesday’s San Diego Section semifinals with a 25-20-25-13, 25-12 loss at top-seeded La Costa Canyon. The fourth-seeded Titans, who advanced through two rounds with victories, ended their season 24-13.
Kristen Abels led Metro-Mesa League champion Eastlake with eight blocks while teammates Briana Ayon and Jaelyn Munoz were credited with four blocks and two aces, respectively.
LCC (22-7) will play second-seeded Point Loma (22-8) in Saturday’s division finals at Cathedral Catholic. Game time is 4 p.m.
Eastlake eliminated visiting Poway in last Friday’s division quarterfinals 25-23, 27-29, 25-15, 27-25 after opening the playoffs with a tense three games to two win over visiting Rancho Bernardo on Nov. 11.
