Vista Murrieta head coach Ed Taitano leads his Lady Broncos (19-10) to the CIF-SS Division 2 Finals against Aliso Niguel (22-6) Saturday, Nov. 5, at Cerritos College. Valley News/David Canales photo

Considering the high level of girls’ volleyball talent in our area it’s hard to believe that just one Southwestern League team has brought home a CIF-SS championship in three appearances. That was Chaparral in 2003 under current assistant Stephanie Benjamin, with Kelli Tennant as the star player.

Saturday afternoon at noon second-seeded Vista Murrieta will take the floor at Cerritos College with an opportunity to bring Southwest Riverside County another section title in Division Two. It’ll be the school’s first CIF-SS championship match appearance in 18 seasons of playing volleyball but not their first CIF title match. In 2019 the Broncos brought home a CIF-State division one championship, defeating Campolindo in four sets (20-25, 30-28, 25-22, 25-21).

Claire Little, Mililani Villarreal and Zoe Horner remain from that 2019 roster. “It’ll be invaluable. They can paint the picture of what this week will be like from practice to walking into that gym at Cerritos College and the emotions of it all,” Broncos head coach Ed Taitano said by phone on Tuesday afternoon about having the 2019 experience still in his program.

Vista Murrieta won a fourth straight Southwestern League title and completed the program’s first undefeated league campaign since 2012 when former coach Kristen Cooke was at the helm this season.

This year’s Broncos team has been challenged from the get-go and started 0-3 in non-league play with losses to two CIF-SS division one playoff participants in Marymount and Mater Dei (in five sets) and CIF-SDS Open Division playoff participant La Costa Canyon. They also made annual tournament stops at Durango and Nike’s Tournament of Champions in Phoenix. “Sometimes a coach does that sort of thing and it backfires, but these girls knew we were preparing for this time of the year,” Taitano said when asked about his team’s road to a final this season. “It’s easier to see the growth and figure out your path as a team when you’ve been through something like that.”

After that semifinal win at El Toro, which required all five sets, the Broncos get a week to prepare for defending champion Aliso Niguel. In the previous playoff calendar, they would have two or three days. “I like the week because even though I didn’t use the third allowable tournament, we’ve been struggling with fatigue,” Taitano said about the extra time. “We gave them Monday off to rest and are excited to begin preparing for Saturday.”

Going back over the past 15 years (after Chaparral’s back-to-back appearances), teams from Southwest Riverside County have made 13 appearances in CIF-SS championship matches, winning 9 titles.

The number of championship game appearances by schools, on the left, with championships won, in parentheses on the right since 2007.

  • 3: Calvary Murrieta (2), 4: Hemet (3), 2: Linfield Christian (2), 1: Rancho Christian (0), 2: Paloma Valley (0), 1: Murrieta Valley (0), 1: California Lutheran (1), 1: Cornerstone Christian (1)

CIF-SS Division 2 girls’ volleyball finals

No. 2 Vista Murrieta vs No. 4 Aliso Niguel

Saturday, Nov. 5 at noon

Site: Cerritos College

Ticketing Link: https://gofan.co/app/events/760583?schoolId=CIFSS

Parking: $3, payable at a Cerritos College kiosk.

Derryl Trujillo can be reached via email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.

Derryl Trujillo

Derryl Trujillo has been a local sportswriter since 2018 and is the 2019 IEBCA Supporter of the Year award winner. He can be reached via email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.