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 past weekend, three South County girls volleyball teams played for section division championships: Otay Ranch in Division II, Olympian in Division III and Chula Vista High Tech in Division V.
All three teams were making their first finals appearances.
Olympian recorded a breakthrough moment by defeating San Marcos in a three-game sweep to claim the Division III championship while both Otay Ranch and Chula Vista High Tech settled for runner-up finishes.
Top-seeded Olympian (24-10) defeated 11th-seeded San Marcos 25-16, 30-28, 25-17 while top-seeded Ramona (31-6) topped sixth-seeded Otay Ranch 25-23, 29-27, 25-17 in games played Saturday, Nov. 22, at Cathedral Catholic High School.
In a game played Friday, Nov. 21, at Canyon Crest Academy, third-seeded Sage Creek (5-16) defeated fourth-seeded CV High Tech 25-8, 25-18, 25-9.
Otay Ranch finished the season 26-10 while CV High Tech finished the season 17-9.
Though his team came up short in the finals, Otay Ranch coach Cory Gove lauded the efforts of all three South County finalists.
“It was fun,” Gove explained. “It was good to see the South Bay teams finally stepping up. Schools are getting coaches in position to build teams.”
Dream girls
San Marcos (9-19) defeated second-seeded Imperial 25-19, 18-25, 25-8, 25-16 to advance to meet Olympian in the championship round. But the Knights, who had upset two higher-seeded opponents during their playoff odyssey, could not clip the Eagles’ wings.
Lauren Appleman recorded 12 kills to lead Olympian in the championship game while Alex Hightower contributed eight kills. Khalia Jordan led the Lady Eagles with four aces and 17 digs while Yvette Macias recorded 15 digs and Krista Schmidt had 10 digs and a team-leading 24 assists.
Olympian topped fifth-seeded El Camino 25-17, 25-17, 25-16 in the semifinals on Nov. 18 to advance to its first finals appearance. Appleman keyed the Eagles with 15 kills in the semifinal win while Jordan contributed 12 kills and six aces. Macias racked up 18 digs to power the team defensively.
Olympian, which finished 4-0 in the section playoffs, swept ninth-seeded Helix 25-16, 25-9, 25-22 in last Friday’s quarterfinals.
Otay Ranch eliminated second-seeded Pacific Ridge (25-8) in four games in the semifinals after recording an upset of third-seeded Mission Hills on Nov. 22 by winning a five-game nail-biter 26-24, 25-19, 27-29, 19-25, 16-14.
Otay Ranch “aced” the Mission Hills (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.
Gove said the strength of this year’s Lady Mustang team was its serving prowess.
“The teams that we beat who were better than us, we beat by out-serving them,” Gove said. “But today (in the championship game), we didn’t serve well and weren’t able to keep up.”
Cordero recorded 21 kills against Ramona.
Chula Vista High Tech advanced to this year’s Division V championship game by upsetting top-seeded Preuss Academy in a stunning three-game sweep Nov. 19 at UC San Diego. The Bruins won 25-11, 25-12, 25-18.
Preuss entered the semifinal match with a 10-1 record on the season. Haley Gorman had seven kills in the win over Preuss while Ashley Fernando recorded nine aces.
CV High Tech downed fifth-seeded Calipatria in four games in the quarterfinals on Nov. 15. The Bruins finished 6-2 in Pioneer League play, placing runner-up to San Diego High Tech (8-0 in league play).
Chula Vista High Tech athletic director Alan Botterman was not surprised by the Bruins’ post-season success story, noting the team had been improving all season.
“They played bigger schools for the first half of their season which gave them the court experience they needed to excel in their (playoff) division,” Botterman said.
End of the road
The Eastlake High School girls volleyball team’s playoff ride ended in the San Diego Section semifinals with a 25-20-25-13, 25-12 loss at top-seeded La Costa Canyon on Nov. 18. 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 (22-8) fell to second-seeded Point Loma (23-8) in the division finals.
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.
