Dons sweep No. 24 Archbishop Mitty as Yale commit Mae Kordas leads squad with 18 kills.
The Dons, who will rise in the final MaxPreps Top 25 rankings on Tuesday, used a combination of power and defense to send the Northern California representative home empty handed for the sixth straight season.
The south had won six of the eight Open Division titles since the CIF introduced the division in 2016. Only Mitty has won Open titles from the north (2016 and 2017), but the Monarchs (29-7) have fallen in the last two championship matches and three of the last four years.
Mae Kordas led Cathedral Catholic with 18 kills and just two errors while hitting .457 for the match.
Allison Dzieciuch added nine kills and
Sophia Johnson chipped in eight.
Kale'a Lee (22 assists) and
Lauren Hanson (18 assists) found their hitters in rhythm as the Dons hit .222 in the first set, .429 in the second and .371 in the third. In addition to her 22 assists, Lee also had 10 digs and Notre Dame-bound libero
Maya Evens added nine digs and 21 serve receptions.
Yale commit Mae Kordas helped No. 8 Cathedral Catholic to its second CIF Open Division title in three seasons on Saturday as the Dons swept No. 24 Archbishop Mitty. Kordas had a match-high 18 kills. (Photo: Rudy Schmoke)
"From Day One, we knew we had a great team," Cathedral coach Juliana Conn said. "We just didn't know how far we could come. When state hit, we were playing really good volleyball and got a good seed, teams came to us and we kept playing better and better.
"They deserved this. They were a little underestimated and they brought it today."
The Dons (46-3) won the San Diego Section Open Division title over Torrey Pines (San Diego) and then blitzed through Los Alamitos, Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) and No. 2 Mater Dei (Santa Ana). All five five wins to end the season were against teams that were at one point in the season in the MaxPreps Top 25.
Conn said the path to the Open finals prepared them for their second title in three years.
"A lot of people came to me and said well the Mater Dei match was the final and I hate when people say that because that's not the case," Conn said. "We got three good rounds. Los Alamitos was really good and scrappy. Redondo did a lot of good things that pushed us to get better. We got tested very differently.
"Mitty's run (to the finals) was a little easier. We were pushed every single match."
Following an admittedly subpar showing at the Durango Fall Classic, the Dons caught fire, finishing the season on a 23 match win streak while dropping three sets during that run.
For Mitty, coming to the finals in three out of four seasons without taking the big trophy is tough and coach Jon Wallace was candid with the feeling.
"It's hard," he said. "Our first meeting of the season is about this day. It's hard. We talk about a championship almost every day and championship character and habits. They have them all and getting tested a little more along the way would help us."
Mitty had to mix and match its lineup throughout the season with injuries and found stride with Crosson returning in the latter part of the year.
The Monarchs fell to St. Ignatius in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Open Division before earning a No. 5 seed in the Northern California Regional. There they dispatched Marin Catholic (Kentfield), Rockling and WCAC rival Saint Francis (Mountain View) in the north final to earn the trip to state.
Archbishop Mitty is the most decorated program in state history with 14 titles.
