SANTA CLARITA — The Saugus girls volleyball team fell short in Wednesday’s CIF SS Division 3 quarterfinal battle with visiting St. Margaret’s.
The Tartans won the match in four sets, 27-29, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20, ending an impressive postseason run by Saugus.
Saugus coach Zach Ambrose thought the match was decided by postseason experience.
“I think the experience showed through there a little bit,” Ambrose said. “I actually really liked what the younger kids put out in terms of effort and the stats that they put in there. I think we (were) kind of little nicked up. It’s not an excuse. But I don’t think we were at our best. A couple people were nursing some injuries, and that kind of it kept us from doing what we like to do.”
The Centurions (32-8) rode a strong start to the set one victory. Saugus’ block was on and forced a good amount of St. Margaret’s tips, but the Tartans were still putting the ball away.
The Centurions found life late in the set off the swing of senior outside hitter Taylor Stires, who added three of her 12 kills late in the first set. The 5-9 outside also added three aces.
Sophomore Valerie Mejia knocked down a kill to end the first set, but Saugus couldn’t keep up the intensity in the last three sets.
Mejia led the Centurions with 14 kills and added two aces.
The Tartans’ block and attack adjusted well in the later games, leading to multiple comfortable leads. Saugus managed to chip away at most of the deficits but couldn’t push past St. Margaret’s (18-10) in crunch time.
Saugus trailed 4-13 in set three before finding life off the serve of freshman Chasiah Omoregie. The setter-opposite helped fuel a 6-0 run with consistent serving as she was one of four Centurions with two or more aces.
Omoregie was extended out of her comfort zone when the team decided to go into a 5-1 offense, leaving the freshman as the team’s only setter on the floor for all six rotations for the first time this season.
“We haven’t done a 5-1 all year,” Ambrose said. “It was just something that we had to do, and she did a great job with it. Chasiah kind of went with the flow, and everyone just kind of did what they had to do.”
Tartans 5-9 outside hitter Sami Duran caught fire in the third set, where she added eight of her 18 kills. Fellow outside Ella Massoudi led St. Margaret’s with 22 kills. Middle Arianne Bruckner had four blocks for St. Margaret’s.
Saugus will graduate nine seniors from this year’s roster, including Stires, Leanna Pimentel and Victoria Vacas, who played big roles for the team.
Vacas, a 6-foot middle, got some big swings in late in the match, adding six of her nine kills in the fourth set alone, along with her three blocks. Pimentel was vital for the Centurions from the end line, where she added three aces with a smooth drop-serve.
Junior Kimora Hogains also played well with a match-high four blocks to go with nine kills.
St. Margaret’s advances to the CIF SS semifinals on Saturday. The Tartans will play Cypress.
Ambrose wasn’t sure if his team would return to the postseason, where Saugus has found success since 2021. The program graduated several collegiate-bound players, while numerous underclassmen worked their way into the lineup.
“I didn’t really expect us to have this kind of success this quick after graduating five girls that are playing in college right now,” Ambrose said. “For all that experience to go away, and the seniors who weren’t always starters, or even starters in that position, it was amazing. They fought in every game, all the eight losses we were in all of them. We had chances to win all those games. So it’s really good experience for the young kids that they know that they can compete come into next year.”
Saugus returned to the CIF-SS quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years.
“I’m excited for the future,” Ambrose said. “We’ve got a lot of good young players, and I’m excited to see them develop over the next year. I think we’re gonna be right back here next year.”