PHOENIX, Ariz. — No. 4
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) saw its redemption arc come to fruition Saturday and brought home the Nike Tournament of Champions Southwest title with a 25-20, 25-15 win over No. 2
Marymount (Los Angeles, Calif.).
Last week, the Monarchs lost two matches in Las Vegas. The first was 3-1 pre-Durango loss to
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) and the second a 2-1 Durango semifinal defeat to the Sailors.
On Saturday and without standout junior
Westley Matavao, Mater Dei exorcised both losses beating Gorman 25-10, 15-25, 15-9 in the semifinals before sweeping Marymount.
No. 4 Mater Dei poses with its Nike Tournament of Champions trophy and banner after beating No. 2 Marymount in the finals. The match of last week's Durango Fall Classic semifinals won by Marymount. (PHOTO: Darin Sicurello)
"I think once we saw the possibility of Gorman in the semis and Marymount potentially (in the finals) if we made it there, I coined the phrase 'Redemption Tour' and told the girls 'Hey, let's see if we can go through some teams that we lost to and come back with some Ws,' " Mater Dei coach Dan O'Dell said. "Those losses sting, but they also make you hungry, make you humble and they make you want redemption the next time. A loss can be a good thing. That's when you learn about yourself."
After knocking off Gorman, the Monarchs got some separation from Marymount midway through the first set turning a 9-all tie into a 15-10 edge on an Ostovar kill. After the Sailors cut the lead to two, Ostovar, a USC commit, again found the floor for a 16-13 edge.
Tournament MVP Layli Ostovar serves in Mater Dei's 2-0 win over Marymount on Saturday. (PHOTO: Darin Sicurello)
But Marymount refused to disappear and knotted the set at 17 on a
Frankie Jones block. But service and hitting errors gave Mater Dei an opening as Coady and
Emma Kingston notched a point with a combo block, 13 had a kill and Coady finished the set with a block for a point and a kill two points later.
The second set saw Mater Dei race to leads of 10-3 and 17-9 as coach Cari Klein used both of her timeouts trying to stem the tide but to no avail.
"We worked a lot on our serves this week and really got them out of system today," Ostovar said.
This is the first tournament win for Mater Dei after runner-up finishes at Nike TOC Southeast and Durango.
Ostovar said the title was satisfying, but "you're satisfied but want more. We're satisfied for one day and then we need to get back to work."
O'Dell said the absence of Matavao forced his team to switch roles
around with Kingston sliding from middle to outside hitter and
having freshman
Jael Smith play more time in the middle.
"Missing
Westley is huge, but this win also gives us more confidence and reminds
the setters that you don't need to rely on Westley and Layli every
time. You can be successful relying on the team," he said.
A fired up Mater Dei group pounced on the Gaels and blitzted to a 25-10 first-set victory. But Gorman came alive in the second set as all-tournament selection
Ayanna Watson pounded six kills in the 25-15 victory.
But O'Dell's group stood its ground and got kills from a host of hitters, ending the 15-9 win with a Coady termination.
In the semifinals, the Sailors were pushed in the first set against
Sunrise Mountain (Peoria, Ariz.) before eeking out a 29-27 victory and following it up with a 25-19 win to create the Durango rematch.
Elle Vandeweghe huddles with her Marymount teammates during their Nike TOC final match against Mater Dei. (PHOTO: Darin Sicurello)
Kalea Lee and Emma Kingston celebrate a point during Mater Dei's 2-0 win over Marymount in the Nike TOC title game. (PHOTO: Darin Sicurello)
Syriana Messy splits the Marymount block looking for a kill. (PHOTO: Darin Sicurello)
