Cathedral Catholic High held a block party and the result was a trip to the state finals.
On the crest of a 24-10 advantage in blocks, the top-seeded Dons bounced back from dropping their first set this season for a 25-20, 15-25, 25-14, 25-17 win. against No. 3 Manhattan Beach Mira Costa in the SoCal Women’s Volleyball Regional Final on Tuesday at Carmel Valley Cathedral.
Cathedral Catholic (41-0) advances to Saturday’s State Open Division Championship game at Santiago Canyon College at 6:30 p.m. against the winner of the NorCal Regional Final between No. 2 San Jose Archbishop Mitty (30-8) and Mountain View St. Francois (33-0).
The blocking turned out to be the difference in the game between the country’s No. 1 (Cathedral) and the country’s No. 3 (Mira Costa).
“That was the goal from the start,” said Cate Schnell, the Dons’ eldest, who saved just two kills of the game late in the fourth set that led to the winning point on a lay-off. death of eldest Noemie Glover.
“Hey, we’re still undefeated heading into the game we’ve always wanted.”
The win is the biggest yet for the Dons, considering last year’s regional final was the end of the line thanks to eventual Los Angeles State Champion Marymount.
“I’m so excited about this as a senior, especially after losing last year’s regional final to Marymount,” said senior Ryleigh Patterson. “Not losing a set has ever been anyone’s priority.”
The Dons’ set winning streak was snapped at 98 in the second set with Drew Wright leading for Mira Costa (38-5).
Wright had eight kills and an ace in set number two after picking up just three kills in set one.
“We knew we would lose sets,” Dons coach Juliana Conn said. “Just refocus and play our game, which they did.
“But it was definitely the best blocking game we’ve had all season.”
Cathedral Catholic has won five state titles, the last in 2016 in Division II.
Glover led the Dons with 16 kills and three blocks.
Section V: Division V seeded No. 3 Victory Christian Academy hit the road and defeated No. 1 Los Angeles Marshall in the Southern California Regional Finals.
Victory Christian outlasted Marshall 18-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 15-9 to advance to Friday’s state championship against Northern California champion Walnut Creek Berean Christian, who defeated Hanford in five sets.
The title match is at 4 p.m. at Santiago Canyon College.
Section III: Helix’s run of the 14th seed at the Southern California Regional ended in a 25-19, 25-16, 25-23 loss to top seed Los Angeles Buckley. Helix (20-12) beat the No. 3, No. 6 and No. 2 seeds to reach the final.
Part II: Francis Parker, seeded No. 8, saw his season end with a 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-21 loss to West Hills Chaminade, seeded No. 3. Parker ends the season 31 -10.
Writer John Maffei contributed to this report.
Monahan is a freelance writer.
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