Girls’ Volleyball: Sage back in CIF title match
When a recording of the national anthem could not be loaded off a computer Tuesday night at Sage Hill School, volleyball match announcer Rob Espero announced that the song wouldn’t be played.
Elsinore sophomore Kiara Lampkin had seemingly been waiting for that moment. At the urging of her teammates she stepped up, belting out an impressive rendition on the fly just before the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA semifinal match.
As for the Lightning, the moment they have been waiting for has now arrived.
Top-seeded defending champion Sage Hill rallied late in the fourth set to claim a 25-8, 25-11, 19-25, 25-23 victory over No. 4-seeded Elsinore, advancing to the CIF title match for the fourth time in four years.
A familiar opponent awaits in No. 3-seeded St. Margaret’s, which swept No. 2 Quartz Hill in another Division 3AA semifinal match Tuesday night. The Lightning and Tartans will play for the title either Thursday or Friday, at a location and time expected to be announced on Wednesday morning.
Sage beat St. Margaret’s in each of the teams’ two league meetings, on the way to the outright Academy League title.
It wasn’t easy to advance for the Lightning (22-3), who won the last seven points of the fourth set to avoid a deciding fifth set. And Sunbelt League champion Elsinore (28-8) brought a raucous red-clad crowd with it.
“This is the loudest crowd that I’ve ever heard at Sage,” said Sage senior setter Maddy Abbott, who had 42 assists, six aces and a team-best 17 digs. “They traveled really well. It was good for us to have a challenging match before finals. We only really had one five-game match in league, so I think it was good for us to face a little adversity.”
The Lightning looked on their way to routing the Tigers after the first two sets, but fell behind early in the third set. They never quite caught up as Elsinore junior Mallie Donohoe, who finished with a team-best eight kills, got hot. The visitors took the last four points of the set – three on Sage Hill errors – to extend the match. It was the first set that Sage Hill has lost this postseason.
“We knew they were better than they were playing in the beginning,” Sage Coach Dan Thomassen said. “They really turned it around and got into a rhythm. It took us a little while to adjust when they started doing things the right way, not giving us so many easy points. It really tested our toughness, because we kind of gave them control and wrestled it back in the fourth … Our girls are used to coming from behind. We’re capable of going on runs, especially when Maddy’s serving. She seems to put the other team off-balance pretty well.”
Senior outside hitters Kekai Whitford (17 kills, 15 digs, four blocks) and Halland McKenna (16 kills, 14 digs) came alive in the fourth set. Abbott went back to serve with the Lightning still trailing, 23-20, but was able to serve out the match.
Whitford’s kill to the back part of the court gave the Lightning their first match point, which they converted on freshman Jade Blevins’ sixth kill of the match.
Sophomore middle blocker Jamie Dailey had three kills and four blocks, while Thomassen also highlighted the play of junior middle blocker Sophia Mossman (six kills) and liberos Sahar Rohani and Lina Aluzri.
For the senior tri-captains of Abbott (bound for the University of Michigan), Whitford (Loyola Marymount) and McKenna (Stanford), it means yet another trip to the CIF finals. They put the Lightning in a position to capture the program’s fourth CIF title.
“It’s really unbelievable to be that consistently strong,” Thomassen said. “It’s everyone doing whatever it takes to get to these finals. They’ve made a lot of sacrifices and it’s great to see it pay off, because it doesn’t always pay off.”
Playing St. Margaret’s in the final will only make it more special for the Lightning, as it sets up yet another all-Academy League CIF final. Sage beat St. Margaret’s in the 2011 CIF final, lost to the Tartans in 2012 and then beat another league rival, Crean Lutheran, last year.
“It’s kind of weird, but it’s kind of special at the same time,” Abbott said. “We were hoping St. Margaret’s was going to win. We love playing our rival. It’s really special, not only playing them in league but to be able to play them a third time for CIF finals.
“Our schools kind of love playing each other,” she added with a grin.
