In this week’s edition of the Valley News Prep Volleyball notebook, we recap a busy opening week of league play, one tournament involving area teams, last week’s CIF-SS coaches polls, and take a look at a busy week ahead…
This week the road to CIF-SS postseason berths started for many area leagues. Here are the highlights as well as some matches to watch. Week one of the Southwestern League was covered in another story.
- Ivy League:
Paloma Valley survived a wild match at Riverside Poly on Friday afternoon with a 3-1 victory (22-25, 32-30, 27-25, 25-18) and is 2-0 in league while Rancho Christian won their debut in the league at Hemet in a sweep (25-19, 25-22, 25-15). Poly split the week by winning a five-set thriller on Wednesday afternoon at home against Elsinore (24-26, 19-25, 25-23, 28-26, 15-12). It sets up a much-anticipated match on Wednesday between the Wildcats and Eagles for first place.
- Match of the Week:
Wednesday, Sept. 20 at 5:30 P.M.
Rancho Christian at Paloma Valley
Both sides are mentioned in the current CIF-SS coaches poll with Paloma Valley at eighth in division four and Rancho Christian receiving votes in division five. The Wildcats are four-time defending league champions between Sunbelt (before that league came under the Raincross Conference banner) and Ivy League play.
After a brief stint as a freelance program the Eagles returned to league play in a big way last season running through the Sunbelt League undefeated and without dropping a set en route to a CIF-SS division six quarterfinal appearance. It’s also a matchup of student vs teacher as Eagles head coach Luci Villafana and assistant Paige Williams both played under Paloma Valley’s Stephen Kaas in club volleyball.
- Mountain Pass League:
Defending champion and CIF-SS division seven quarterfinalist Hemet West Valley is off to a 2-0 start after a five-set win over San Jacinto (25-18, 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 15-9) and a sweep of Citrus Hill. Kamryn Hubbell had 17 kills and four aces to lead the Mustangs in the win over San Jacinto.
- Match of the Week:
Hemet West Valley at Liberty
Thursday, Sept. 21 at 6:30 P.M.
The Bison swept San Jacinto, a team that West Valley needed five sets to get through at home and get to host the first meeting between these two ranked CIF-SS opponents. It’s a matchup of the Mountain Pass League’s two ranked teams and, with Liberty moving to the Raincross Conference next year, the final regular season Bison home match between the schools.
- Majestic League:
Unlike the other area leagues Majestic League play is two weeks in and Cornerstone Christian/Wildomar, led by former Calvary Murrieta head coach Paul Amoy (who guided the Warriors to three straight CIF-SS championship game appearances between ‘06-’08 with two wins), is tied atop the standings at 4-0 (7-2 overall). This comes just one year after the Crusaders won just two matches in total. The Crusaders will play Tuesday at Crossroads Christian/Corona and Thursday against St. Jeanne De Lestonnac. If they prevail Tuesday it sets up a showdown with Calvary Baptist/La Verne (seventh in the division nine poll dated Monday, Sept. 11) for early control of the Majestic League title chase on Thursday, Sept. 28 in Wildomar.
- Ambassador League:
Linfield Christian swept their opener against once third ranked Woodcrest Christian by 25-13, 25-14, and 25-16 and also swept a match against Entrepreneur earlier in the week. After spending Saturday at the Anza Hamilton tournament Linfield Christian hits the road for trips to Aquinas on Tuesday and defending CIF-SS division six champion Arrowhead Christian on Thursday.
- Hamilton Tournament:
In an all-Valley News area final Rancho Christian defeated Linfield Christian in three sets, 17-15 in the third, to win Hamilton’s tournament for a third straight year. Savannah Thomas was named Most Outstanding Player for the Eagles while Anna Roth earned an all-tournament selection for Linfield Christian.
- CIF-SS Coaches Poll:
In this week’s CIF-SS Coaches poll (dated Monday, Sept. 11) nine teams from the Valley News coverage area find themselves in their division’s top ten or receiving votes…
Leading the pack are Linfield Christian and Temecula Prep who are each ranked in their division’s top five. The Lions are ranked first in Division Six for a second straight week while the Patriots are ranked second in Division Eight.
Paloma Valley is ranked eighth in Division Four, California Lutheran ninth in division Eight, Orange Vista and Cornerstone Christian are both tenth in Division’s Six and Nine respectively.
Also receiving votes are Rancho Christian in Division Five, Hemet West Valley in Division Six, and Liberty in Division Eight.
- Player of the Week:
Maddie Snow, Temecula Valley
It’s not often this award goes to a player on a team that goes 2-1 on the week but the Bears played three quality opponents in Vista Murrieta, Chaparral, and Rancho Christian. These are three teams likely to reach the CIF-SS postseason and Snow shined, averaging 3.7 kills per set. She led the way in a Thursday night Southwestern League victory over Chaparral with 17 kills, 11 digs and 2 aces against a Puma side that started the year 11-0.
Derryl Trujillo can be reached by email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.
