The San Diego Section girls volleyball playoffs opened with some surprising – and not so surprising – results:
Top-seeded Olympian, winners of two consecutive division titles (Division III in 2014 and Division II last year en route to a runner-up finish at the state tournament), began its quest for a CIF three-peat by defeating 16th-seeded Patrick Henry in the teams’ Division II first-round match-up on Wednesday. The Lady Eagles improved to 21-9 on the season on the strength of a 25-14, 25-17, 25-16 sweep.
Olympian will host ninth-seeded Escondido on Saturday, Nov. 5, in a quarterfinal-round match-up set to begin at 5 p.m.
The Lady Cougars advanced with a 3-2 win over eighth-seeded Christian on Wednesday.
Saturday’s winner advances to the division semifinals on Wednesday, Nov. 9, in a 7 p.m. contest.
The division championship game is scheduled Nov. 12 at Cathedral Catholic High School, starting at 1:15 p.m.
Junior Johanna Langarica and senior Lauren Appelman lead Olympian in kills while junior Deara White (blocks), senior Yvette Macias (digs) and senior Andrea Ramirez (assists) top the team in other categories.
The Lady Eagles, cheered on by an enthusiastic home crowd in their playoff opener, appeared loose and filled with energy on the court.
The surprising result from Wednesday’s opening round?
Try 12th-seeded High Tech High Chula Vista recording its first CIF playoff victory in school history at the expense of fifth-seeded and Metro-South Bay League co-champion Sweetwater.
The Lady Bruins served notice they were not going to lay down and die for the Lady Red Devils after taking a surprising 6-2 lead in the opening game. But host Sweetwater rallied to win the first game 25-14 and appeared to be headed for another victory in the second set until the visitors rallied to post a 26-24 win to tie the match at 1-1.
The turning point occurred when SuHi libero Martha Flores suffered a severe knee injury and paramedics had to be called to the gym to take her off-site for treatment. The 30-minute delay in the second game seemed to shift the momentum to HTH CV as the Lady Bruins, trailing 13-12 at the point of Flores’ injury, went on to rally from a 21-16 deficit to record the victory.
The Lady Bruins appeared to feed off the energy of that amazing win to capture the third game by a score of 25-18.
Down 2-1 in the best-of-five Division IV match-up, the Lady Devils looked like they might force a deciding fifth game after taking a 10-6 lead in the fourth game. However, the visitors kicked it into high gear to rally for a rather amazing 25-21 victory to make history for the small east side Chula Vista private school.
The Lady Bruins reeled off seven straight points to take a 13-10 lead and, following an ace to put the visitors up 16-12, zipped in front 22-13 on the strength of six straight points. But turnabout proved fair play as the hosts recorded six consecutive kills to narrow the HTH-CV lead to 23-20.
But the Lady Bruins scored a key point to break the SuHi rally to lead 24-21 and then added the game-winning point.
Fans then flooded the court to congratulate the upset victors.
“I don’t have any words to describe this,” explained first-year HTH CV head coach Aly Bronder, whose team recorded a 13-2 record in Frontier League play. “My girls worked extremely hard this year. I couldn’t be more proud now. They worked to overcome anything and not let anything stand in their way.”
Bronder said the turning point came in the second game.
“It was unfortunate for their player to be injured, but we had the opportunity to get together (during the play stoppage) and go over what we needed to do to pick our game up. It was an amazing game.”
HTH-CV sophomore libero Sam Magpusao echoed her coach’s words.
“It’s crazy,” Magpusao said in regard to the team’s history-making CIF playoff victory. “It’s High Tech High history.”
The Lady Bruins (19-11) will be out to earn respect from another Metro Conference team when they host 13th-seeded Mar Vista (19-9) in a quarterfinal match on Saturday, Nov. 5, starting at 5 p.m. The Lady Mariners advanced to the next round after dealing fourth-seeded West Shores a 3-1 defeat on Wednesday.
High Tech High Chula Vista-Mar Vista winner will advance to next Wednesday’s semifinals against the winner between Saturday’s quarterfinal match-up between top-seeded Maranatha Christian (22-3) and eighth-seeded Hilltop (20-12).
Maranatha Christian swept 16th-seeded St. Joseph Academy in Wednesday’s opener while Hilltop, which shared the Metro-South Bay League championship with Sweetwater, defeated ninth-seeded Borrego Springs by scores of 25-18, 25-18, 25-14.
The division championship is scheduled Nov. 11 at Canyon Crest Academy, starting at 7 p.m.
Hilltop is led on the court by hitters Helena Cartegena and Frances Carreon, serving specialist Nadine Gonzalez, blocks leader Serena Williams, dig specialists Gonzalez and Carreon and assist leader Alejandra Zavala.
Sweetwater head coach Erick Hernandez congratulated High Tech High Chula Vista for displaying resiliency in topping his team.
“We had very good momentum going into the match after winning nine matches in a row,” the SuHi coach said. “Winning our third championship in a row was not easy. Our squad was very relaxed and were still going strong.
“We couldn’t find a groove after our libero had to exit with an injury. Our girls did everything they could to adjust.Cheyenne Martinez had 17 kills over the four sets to try to spark the team. We just didn’t have enough offense to take a lead. I’m very proud of the way they finished the game and the year. It was an emotional loss for us, but we’re glad Martha, our libero, is home doing well after her injury.”
Virginia Garcia had 24 assists in the loss to the Lady Bruins.
In other playoff games involving South County teams:
Open Division
Metro-Mesa League champion Eastlake, seeded eighth, ended its season with a quarterfinal loss to top-seeded Torrey Pines on Friday. The Lady Falcons won the highly-competitive match-up by scores of 25-20, 25-23, 27-25.
Torrey Pines (27-4) advances to Tuesday’s semifinals. The Lady Titans end their season 21-8.
Division I
Fourth-seeded Otay Ranch (26-6) defeated 12th-seeded Poway 26-24, 25-23, 21-25, 21-25, 20-18 in a five-game quarterfinal thriller on Friday to advance to Tuesday’s semifinals against eighth-seeded Westview (17-15).
Otay Ranch will host the semifinal match, starting at 7 p.m. Karen Cordero leads the Lady Mustangs with 370 kills while teammate Ryann Mojica has 209 kills. Grecia Cordero tops Otay Ranch with 615 digs while Shannon Casey has 713 assists.
Karen Cordero had 23 kills in Friday’s win while Grecia Cordero had 36 digs. Casey contributed 38 assists.
The division final is Nov. 11 at Cathedral Catholic High School, with a scheduled 4 p.m. start.
Division III
Sixth-seeded Bonita Vista (12-15) advanced to Saturday’s quarterfinals at third-seeded Mt. Carmel (17-11) after defeating 11th-seeded Pacific Ridge 25-18, 26-24, 17-25, 25-23 in Wednesday’s opening round.
The winner advances to this coming Wednesday’s semifinals. Pani Napoleon tops the Lady Barons with 447 kills and 49 aces while Nicole Tabuena has 341 digs and Erin Roberts has posted 854 assists.
Napoleon had 33 kills in the win over Pacific Ridge while Tabuena had 22 digs and Roberts had 47 assists.
Division V
Seventh-seeded Ocean View Christian Academy (10-8) defeated Del Lago 25-21, 18-25, 28-26, 25-21 in an opening-round encounter on Thursday to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals against second-seeded San Diego Academy (11-10).
In other division quarterfinals on Saturday, top-seeded Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (18-0) will test eighth-seeded San Ysidro (10-16) while third-seeded Chula Vista Calvary Christian Academy (15-4) will host sixth-seeded Mountain Empire (14-10).
Winners advance to Wednesday’s semifinals. The championship round is scheduled Nov. 11 at Canyon Crest Academy at 5 p.m.
San Diego Section Quarterfinals
Saturday, Nov. 5
Division II
(3) Mt. Carmel defeated (6) Bonita Vista 25-19, 25-18, 25-16. Bonita Vista leaders: Napoleon 10 kills, Gonzalez 7 kills, Tabuena 3 aces
(1) Olympian defeated (9) Escondido 25-11, 25-22, 25-10. Olympian leaders: Appelman 17 kills, Macias 22 digs, Ramirez 8
Division IV
(1) Maranatha Christian defeated (8) Hilltop 25-20, 25-13, 25-4
(13) Mar Vista defeated (12) High Tech High Chula Vista 3 games to 1
Division V
(3) Mountain Empire defeated (6) Chula Vista Calvary Christian Academy 26-24, 25-12, 25-21
(2) San Diego Academy defeated (7) Ocean View Christian Academy 3 games to 1
(1) Chula Vista Learning Community Charter defeated (8) San Ysidro 25-18, 25-14, 25-14
San Diego Section Semifinals
Tuesday, Nov. 11
Division I
(4) Otay Ranch defeated (8) Westview 25-19, 25-15, 17-25, 23-25, 15-12
Note: Otay Ranch advances to Division I championship game against (2) Del Norte, Nov. 12 at Cathedral Catholic High School, 4 p.m.
Division II
(1) Olympian defeated (4) Rancho Bernardo 25-18, 23-25, 25-16, 19-25, 15-13
Note: Olympian advances to Division II championship game against (3) Mt. Carmel, Nov. 12 at Cathedral Catholic High School, 1:15 p.m.
Division V
(1) Chula Vista Learning Community Charter defeated Palo Verde 25-23, 25-11, 25-14
(2) San Diego Academy defeated Mountain Empire 20-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-21
Note: Chula Vista Learning Community Center and San Diego Academy advance to Division V championship game, Nov. 11 at Canyon Crest Academy, 5 p.m.
San Diego Section
Girls Volleyball Finals
Friday, Nov. 11 at Canyon Crest Academy
Division V
(1) Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (20-0) vs. San Diego Academy (13-10), 5 p.m.
Division IV
(1) Maranatha Christian (24-3) vs. (3) Horizon Christian Academy (17-4), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 12 at Cathedral Catholic High School
Division III
(1) El Capitan (23-4) vs. (3) Classical Academy (23-7), 11 a.m.
Division II
(1) Olympian (24-9) vs. (3) Mt. Carmel (24-11), 1:15 p.m.
Division I
(2) Del Norte (21-10) vs. (4) Otay Ranch (27-6), 4 p.m.
Open Division
(3) La Costa Canyon (23-9) vs. (4) Santa Fe Christian (29-7), 6:15 p.m.
Metro Conference
Girls Volleyball Standings
Mesa League
Eastlake 10-0
Otay Ranch 7-3
Olympian 6-4
Bonita Vista 5-5
Montgomery 2-8
Mater Dei Catholic 0-10
South Bay League
Hilltop 10-2
Sweetwater 10-2
Mar Vista 8-4
Southwest 5-7
Castle Park 4-8
San Ysidro 3-9
Chula Vista 2-10
