The Campbell Hall girls volleyball players smiled as they repeated “third time’s the charm” all throughout the week leading up to the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship game.
The Vikings had reached the CIF-SS finals for the last two seasons and finally took home a trophy when they swept Newbury Park, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17, on Saturday at Newbury Park High.
“These girls are very determined,” Campbell Hall head coach Kat Thyer said. “There were a lot of people who were saying like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a rebuilding year. Don’t worry about the outcome of stuff,’ and the girls were like, ‘No, we want a banner right next to the one from last year.’”
Campbell Hall won a CIF State Division II championship last season with an upperclassman-heavy team. This year’s group is much younger but just as determined.
Three freshmen have been rotated into the lineup this season and 5-foot-8 outside hitter Maya Harris instantly made an impact. Kate Williams, another outside hitter, has become valuable as well, especially since senior Tyler Parouse broke her hand two practices before the championship match.
Parouse’s injury was a blow to the team, but players rallied around her and wrote “T2” on their wrists in honor of her and her jersey number. Parouse is still very involved in the matches and has taken on a player-coach role.
“She’s a very smart player, a very smart individual,” Thyer said. “She would talk to players about what’s open, what they can hit, what they were seeing, blocking. They’re going to listen especially to their teammate who put her heart and soul into the team the entire year.”
The Vikings’ nonleague schedule was challenging and pitted the team against top-level competition like Oaks Christian and West Ranch in the La Jolla Tournament and Tournament of Champions in Arizona.
“We thought it was very important that we were playing tough competition,” Thyer said, “because we wanted to be in a playoff situation where we’re feeling comfortable and good and now we’re here.”
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The gauntlet paid off when Campbell went 9-1 to tie for second place in the Gold Coast League as well as when it won the CIF-SS title.
The challenges keep coming, though, as the Vikings were set to play CIF San Diego Section Division 1 champion Eastlake on Tuesday in the first round of the CIF State Regional playoffs.
The two teams met earlier this season in mid-September in a tournament when the Titans pulled off a 2-1 win over the Vikings. Thyer feels her team is ready for the rematch.
“They’re peaking, they’re feeling good,” she said. “They’re also just playing as a unit and for each other. There were a lot of smiles at practice but also that focus of OK, we still have another goal we want to hit.”