It was an exciting couple of weeks in the local girls’ volleyball world. Four teams from our area made it to the semifinals, two made it to the finals, and one walked away with a Southern Section Division title. Unfortunately, that one team that was the last team standing, decided their season was officially over at that point. Temecula Prep, which won the CIF Southern Section Division 8 title, opted not to compete in the state tournament last week.
According to one of the area’s top prep volleyball beat reporters, Derryl Trujillo, he felt Temecula Prep would have been at least in the Division 4 bracket. “It’s an interesting choice to do all that work to win a section title and then opt out. They were likely a low seed in that bracket.”
When asked what prompted the opt out, head coach Donald Reyes, who has been with the Patriots since 2009, said, “There were some internal things (we) needed to work on, which we need to leave internal. So, we felt it was best to opt out.”
Rancho Christian received the No. 9 seed in the Division III regional bracket after advancing to the Southern Section’s Division 5 championship match. The Eagles traveled to Poway (No. 9 seed), who reached the San Diego Section’s Division 1 semifinals.
Without one of their top players in Savannah Thomas, who had a prior commitment, it would be Poway that would set the tone for the night by jumping out to a 16-0 lead in the first set Tuesday, Nov. 7. That was a huge gap before Rancho Christian could get on the board. Handicapped by the loss of their top player the Eagles remained over matched falling in three straight sets 25-10, 25-12 and 25-12.
Linfield Christian was given the No. 7 seed in the Division IV regional bracket after reaching the Southern Section’s Division 6 semifinals. The Lions hosted Wildwood (No. 10 seed), the Southern Section’s Division 7 runner-up and had their hands full in their first two sets of their first-round playoff match Tuesday night. That is when Anna Roth (28 kills, 10 digs) stepped up her game and helped lead the Lions to a reverse sweep of Wildwood (23-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-13, 15-11). Roth was also named Ambassador League Player of the Year.
Adding to Roth’s fire was Charys Hong (11 kills, 13 digs) and Brooklyn Pierce who finished with 45 assists and 6 aces. Linfield Christian made the trip to Mammoth Thursday, Nov. 9, for their second-round regional match. A win there would have put them in the semifinals, since in the State tournament there is no quarterfinal round, but after winning the first set 25-19, they fell in three straight sets to the Huskies, 18-25, 23-25, and 23-25.
Liberty was the final local team to get a bid, taking the No. 7 seed in the Division V bracket after reaching the Southern Section’s Division 8 semifinals. The Bison hosted and defeated Rosemead (No. 10 seed), the Southern Section’s Division 9 runner-up. It took five sets, with the final two points in their last set (16-14 victory) coming from a side out and an error from Rosemead that sent the Bison into the next round. Kailee Tracy led the team with four aces while Paige Rash was the kills leader with 18, followed by Kierstynn Vogt, who drilled home 11 kills. Senior libero Dakota Jove led Liberty on defense with 33 digs. In their semifinal matchup, the Bison fell to Oceanside in three-straight sets, 14-25, 19-25, and 16-25.
With the CIF State Finals taking place November 17 – 18, no local teams advanced far enough in the Regional brackets to obtain a bid. With the end of the season officially here for our area teams, the RSA Volleyball Classic, presented by the Riverside Sheriffs Association, will take place Saturday, Nov. 18, at Notre Dame High School in Riverside. Match time is set for 4 p.m.
This will be a classic matchup between Class of 2024 standouts from the Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Coach Villafana from Rancho Christian will lead the RivCo All-Stars while Coach Flowers from Redlands will head up the San Berdoo All-Stars. Rosters will be included in next week’s issue.
Visit www.cifstate.org for the remainder of the State Regional Tournament info.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
