CHATSWORTH — Sierra Canyon Trailblazers volleyball had its most familiar foe in the way of returning to the CIF-SS championship match.
The Blazers bested their league rival, the Marymount Sailors, in five sets to earn a spot in the Division 1 championship match.
Sierra Canyon took the semifinal battle 25-13, 26-28, 24-26, 25-22, 15-9, powered by a balanced attack led by junior setter Lucky Fasavalu.
There are no secrets whatsoever between these two teams, who have now played four times this season, with the Trailblazers (38-3) taking three of such matches, with two wins coming in five sets. The preparation is tough but straightforward, knowing exactly what the other side is going to throw at the other.
“I’m so happy that we were able to get ourselves in that fifth set, because I felt good once we got to that fifth set,” Sierra Canyon coach Stefanie Wigfall said. “I felt like we could get going and maybe get there first. It’s hard, that’s the fourth time we played them. It gets harder each time to beat a team. So I’m just so thrilled, so proud of the girls.”
Sierra Canyon’s balanced offense was key in the win, with four Trailblazers adding 13 or more kills. Six-foot, 3-inch opposite hitter Eva Jeffries led the team with 14 kills while Nebraska-commit Kendall Omoruyi finished with 13 and a match-high four blocks.
Omoruyi, a 6-foot, 4-inch middle, powered her squad ahead in the fifth, where she added three kills and a block.
“I feel like we were losing towards the end of sets because our energy was kind of like fluctuating, and we were playing off the score a little bit,” Omoruyi said. “So coming into that fifth set, we had to lock in and just play with urgency.”
Sierra Canyon won the first and final sets comfortably, but struggled to put away the scrappy Sailors (37-6) everywhere else. The Trailblazers led by four or more points midway through the second, third and fifth sets but couldn’t hold off Marymount.
“I feel like we started well in all of the sets, we came out really strong, which I loved,” Wigfall said. “And then towards the back end, we were having a little bit of trouble closing it out. So that was a little interesting. I think when a team is going high error on you, like they were in the beginning part of the sets, you get lulled into thinking that they’re going to continue to make those errors. But Marymount, I knew they weren’t going to continue to make the same errors.”
The Sailors trailed 18-12 in set two but kept swinging away and quickly flipped the switch. Marymount outside hitter Samantha Destler caught fire in the game, where she added five of her 16 kills along with three of her four blocks.
Destler ramped up the swings in the third, where she totaled seven kills. Matching her efforts was fellow outside hitter Makenna Barnes, who also hit seven kills in the set after a slow start to the night. The two 6-foot, 2-inch outside hitters were key in erasing a 17-12 Trailblazer lead and taking set three.
Marymount’s set three win was its fourth deuce set won in Sierra Canyon’s gym this season.
Barnes’ tough jump serve also added three aces for the Sailors.
Trailblazer outside hitters McKenna McIntosh and Hanna McGinest both finished with 13 kills. McIntosh also added a pair of aces and blocks, but flashed her powerful swing throughout the night with numerous great sets from the Missouri-commit, Fasavalu.
“(Fasavalu) is so incredibly dynamic and such an exciting athlete to watch,” Wigfall said. “I love watching everything that she does. I think she’s just got such a good feel for the game, and her instincts are so good. But tonight, she was the one that spurred her teammates on to pick up their attacking numbers in certain points of the match, and she was just such a supportive leader.”
Sierra Canyon will now return to the Division championship match with another rematch slated. The Trailblazers will face the Mater Dei Monarchs, the same team that swept Sierra Canyon in the title match last season. Wigfall believes her team is ready for the challenge of the Monarchs, who could have a home-court advantage at Cerritos College.
“This is one of our goals, for sure,” Wigfall said, “So we are gonna be ready. We are going to handle the moment better this time, I know for sure. Last year it got a little big for us. This year, we want to be ready. We want to show up in battle. And there’s gonna be 900 Mater Dei fans there, and 75 Sierra Canyon fans and we’re used to that too. We’re just gonna we’re gonna go hard and we’re gonna try and win this thing. So we’re excited.”
Sierra Canyon takes on Mater Dei for the Division 1 crown on Saturday at 6 p.m.
“We feel so good going into this game,” Omoruyi said. “This team, we’ve worked so hard to get to this championship. And obviously, to state, of course. I moved here from Arizona, so it’s like a new experience for me. And like being with these girls, they’ve made me feel like nothing but welcome. And it’s just like a great experience…they’ve helped me on and off the court, and we’re like all best friends. It’s just a whole different experience in California, and I just feel like a better player already.”