The Sierra Canyon and West Ranch girls volleyball teams are gearing up for their biggest matches of the season.
Sierra Canyon will aim for revenge as they re-enter the CIF SS Division 1 championship match against the Mater Dei Monarchs, who swept Sierra Canyon in last year’s title match.
The Trailblazers (38-3) and Monarchs (30-4) both enter the match as winners of 16 straight, but Mater Dei has dropped just two sets since late September. The Trailblazers boast a strong defense and balanced attack that will challenge the Trinity League champion Monarchs.
Sierra Canyon’s towering Eva Jefferies and Kendall Omoruyi will be tough assignments to slow down while outside hitters Hanna McGinest and McKenna McIntosh will look to continue to shine as six-rotation players. The Trailblazers’ top assignment will be slowing down 2024 Division 1 CIF Player of the Year Layli Ostovar, a 5-foot-11 outside hitter committed to USC, and 6-foot junior outside Westley Matavao, a UCLA commit.
Blazers coach Stefanie Wigfall believes the title match last year got away from her young team, but she feels her team much more prepared for the bright lights of a championship match that will most likely feel like a road game.
West Ranch enters the CIF SS championship match for the first time in program history. The Wildcats will battle another red-hot, Division 2 team in the Santa Margarita Eagles, as both teams have dropped a combined three sets in their playoff runs.
The Wildcats are hot off a win over another Trinity League team, the JSerra Lions, in a match West Ranch took, 25-15, 25-14, 25-19, for its third sweep of the playoffs. The Cats totaled nine blocks, led by four from setter Dani Clewis, and 53 digs, highlighted by 13 from senior libero Alexandra Seres.
“We were able to slow down their best attackers and really get a huge number of blocks that night and digs,” West Ranch coach Jamey Ker said in a phone interview. “When talking about how I want my team to perform, it’s exactly that. It’s this unstoppable defensive force, and we were very much that. We’re going to be good offensively. I’m never really worried about that.”
In the CIF quarterfinals, the Wildcats defeated the Orange Lutheran Lancers in five sets after trailing 2-1. The match included three deuce sets and was the only playoff battle where West Ranch allowed more than 20 points in a game. The Wildcats totaled 18 blocks in the win, with Clewis adding six, while 6-2 sophomore outside hitter Devyn Kobe added five along with a team-high 27 kills.
“For three of the four matches thus far, we’ve just played really, really good, clean volleyball,” Ker said. “I think one of the things I admire about this team is that there’s a competitiveness to them. And so as much as we’d like to say, we are playing as hard as we can all the time, and I do think that we have a pretty high floor for that.”
The Wildcats will need to slow down a fierce Eagle attack, led by 6-4 junior Ireland Real. The outside hitter is a 2024 all-CIF player with a big swing and serve, but Ker’s team has risen to every challenge thus far in the postseason.
“At the end of the day, as always, the most important thing is us executing,” Ker said. “We can have a great scouting report, but if we don’t touch the ball well, we’re not going to win a match. So just making sure everybody’s on the right mindset so that we can put our best effort forward.”
City Section
Over in the LA City Section, El Camino Real and Cleveland battled for the third time this season, with the El Camino Real winning again in five sets. The Royals won 19-25, 25-16, 19-25, 25-18, 15-13.
El Camino will move on to the Open Division semifinals on Tuesday, to face the top-seeded Venice Gondoliers, a team the Royals beat 2-1 in tournament play earlier this season.
Taft also advanced in the City Open Division bracket with a 3-2 win over Eagle Rock. The Toreadors took the opener 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 25-11, 15-8. Senior opposite Laila Braimah led with 24 kills while libero Aralyn Adorable-Flores had 26 digs. Junior setter Alexa Barajas totaled 40 assists.
Taft moves on to face Palisades on Tuesday.
Kennedy survived a tight match with San Pedro in the City Division I quarterfinals. The Cougars won in a wild one in straight sets, 27-25, 28-26, 25-22, and will now head out for their first road playoff game at Grant. The Lancers have won five straight matches, all sweeps, and have yet to allow an opponent a 20-point set in that stretch.
Local teams also enter the City Division II quarterfinals as North Hollywood heads to No. 1 East Valley on Wednesday.