<b>SAN JOSE, Calif.</b> - A year after his
La Jolla Country Day (La Jolla, Calif.) team won the first volleyball state championship in school history, Torrey coach Peter Ogle set out to find some tougher competition for his team. He found it at the Archbishop Mitty Tournament.
The Torreys won four straight games over the weekend, including a 3-1 defeat of
Presentation (San Jose, Calif.) in the finals, to capture first place at the Archbishop Mitty Tournament and stay undefeated on the season at 6-0.
"We had a lot of players coming back this year so we wanted to face some tough competition this year," said Ogle. "We played some very good teams here, but we also played extremely well, especially in the semifinals."
The Torreys, ranked No. 7 in the
MaxPreps Xcellent National Rankings presented by Army National Guard, defeated a
Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, Calif.) team, which reached the Southern Section Division 1A semifinals last year, 25-18, 25-10, 25-11 in the semifinals. On Friday, La Jolla Country Day held off defending Southern Section 1A champion
Dos Pueblos (Goleta, Calif.) 25-23, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18 to advance to the semis.
In the finals, La Jolla Country Day faced a Presentation team that had already defeated defending mythical national champion
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) - twice. The Panthers defeated the Monarchs two weeks ago to win the Milpitas Spikefest and then edged the Monarchs again in the second round of their own tournament on Friday.
Seeded second in the tournament, Presentation knocked off No. 3 seed
Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) 25-12, 16-25, 25-17, 28-26, in the semifinals to reach the championship match.
In the finals, Presentation jumped out to the early lead with a victory in the first game, 25-21. The Panthers' front line of 6-1
Molly Pearson and 6-1
Katie Pearson did the bulk of the damage with Molly getting three kills and two blocks and Katie adding two kills and a block. The game was tied at 19-19, but Presentation went on a 6-2 run to close it out.
"I don't know that we played poorly in that match," said Ogle. "I just think it was a case of Presentation playing very well. They did a great job of passing in that game."
The Torreys turned things around in the second game behind the setting of
Chloe Mathis and the hitting of
Lauren Birks,
Gillian Howard and
Mollie Rogers. Mathis finished the tournament with 135 assists in four games including 42 in the championship match.
"She is just setting at such a high level right now," said Ogle. "Of course she's going to Arizona, but she is setting like a Division I college setter already."
Mathis also caught Presentation off guard with a number of quick sets and dink shots that allowed her to rack up four kills in the finals.
Rogers, Howard and Birks, however, did most of the heavy hitting. Rogers had 16 kills in the match to lead the team while Howard and Birks each had 10 kills. Howard also led the team in blocks with eight. Birks also shined on defense with 25 digs.
Birks finished with 53 kills for the tournament, including 18 in the semifinals against Santa Barbara. Rogers added 42 and Howard had 37.
The two teams were tied at 18-18 in the second game when Rogers took over. She had a kill and a block to make it 21-18. An ace by Mathis made it 23-20 and Rogers got it to game point with a kill. A block gave the Torreys the 25-20 win.
In game 2, La Jolla Country Day turned a 10-7 advantage into an 18-7 lead on the serving of Rogers. She served eight straight points with Birks getting three kills during the rally. A Howard kill gave the Torreys game point and Mathis put the match away with a kill for a 25-12 win.
Sarah Cole gave Presentation the early lead in the fourth game as she had three kills to put the Panthers ahead 11-9. However a 6-1 run by the Torreys gave La Jolla Country Day a 15-12 lead and it never trailed again.
Birks had four kills, two blocks and an ace during the final game. A bad serve and two wide hits ultimately scored the final three points giving the Torreys a 25-21 win and the match.
The Torreys have a tough schedule the rest of the way, including matches against perennial San Diego area powerhouses La Costa Canyon on Sept. 29, Tri-City Christian on Oct. 1 and Cathedral Catholic on Oct. 5. The Torreys will also compete in the California Challenge at Torrey Pines in mid-October and will head to Arizona for a tournament in Phoenix at the end of October.
In the third place game, Santa Barbara used the strong hitting of
Eve Ettinger to down Redondo Union 17-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-20. Ettinger had 19 kills in the four games for the Dons.
Archbishop Mitty finished with a 3-1 record and a 3-2 win over Dos Pueblos in the fifth place match. The Monarchs defeated Dos Pueblos in last year's championship match.
"We lost seven Division I starters from last year's team, so we came in as a legitimate no. 7 seed," said Brett Almazan-Cezar, the 2009 MaxPreps National Coach of the Year. "So to finish fifth was a good weekend for us. We just want to try and get better every day. That was our goal last year and it's still our goal today."
