Sierra Canyon won its second Southern Section Division 1 girls’ volleyball title in four years Saturday night and ended Mater Dei’s bid for a three-peat with a 23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-21 victory at Cerritos College.
The Trailblazers (39-3) are seeded No. 1 in the Open Division of the CIF SoCal Regional tournament and host No. 8 Mira Costa in the first round Wednesday. The state playoffs wrap up Nov. 22 at Santiago College.
Coached by Stefanie Wigfall and led by junior hitters Hannah McGinest and Eva Jeffries, Missouri-bound setter Lucky Fasavalu, Nebraska-bound middle blocker Kendall Omoruyi and hitter McKenna McIntosh (committed to USC), Sierra Canyon is on a 17-match win streak. Its only two losses to California schools came in out of state tournaments to Marymount and Redondo Union early in the season and the Trailblazers avenged both in best-of-five matches.
McIntosh and Omoruyi had 13 kills apiece against the third-seeded Monarchs (31-5) in Saturday’s final. Mater Dei was trying to become the first school to win three straight Southern Section titles in the highest playoff division since Newport Harbor from 1997 to 1999.
Santa Margarita outlasted West Ranch, 26-28, 25-21, 25-23, 13-25, 15-11 to win the Division 2 title Saturday under first-year coach Chandler Gibb. Star outside hitter Ireland Real had 29 kills to lead the Eagles (24-10), who lost to Palos Verdes in the semifinals in the same division last year.