California high school volleyball: No. 1 Marymount sweeps Archbishop Mitty to cap CIF action

Marymount (Los Angeles), the No. 1 team in the MaxPreps Top 25, made quick work of Archbishop Mitty as the Sailors boat raced the Monarchs 25-11, 25-5, 25-14 to win the California Interscholastic Federation Open Division championship on Saturday at Santiago Canyon College.

The Sailors finish the season with their eight overall CIF title and cap an undefeated season.

Archbishop Mitty (San Jose), which owns the most state titles with 14, was never really in the match as the Sailors proved why they can make the case for MaxPreps National Champions.

Elia Rubin paced Marymount with 10 kills as Kerry Keefe and Torrey Stafford each added nine in the straight-sets victory.

"They played the hardest schedule in the nation," said Marymount coach Cari Klein. "They looked for all the competition, they only wanted the best teams."

Up 10-5 in the first set, setter Kelly Belardi ran off five straight service points to 15-5 before libero Megan Verbiest ran off a five-point service streak that included kills by Stafford and Dior Charles. With a 24-11 lead later in the set, Duke-bound Keefe capped the win with an ace.

In the second set, the Sailors came out on a mission, taking a 7-1 lead before three Keefe aces, two Charles kills, a Rubin back-row kill and a Stafford kill bumped the edge to 20-3. Marymount finished the impressive set with a Keefe back-row kill and a hitting error by Mitty.

The third set was the closest of the three, but the Monarchs could only close to two, down 14-12 at one point, before two Stafford kills and a pair of hitting errors opened the lead for Marymount.

Rubin's second kill of the final set capped off the win and ensuing dogpile.

Rubin said losing last year to COVID made this season more meaningful.

"It made us want it more," she said. "We knew what it was like to have it taken away."

Marymount finished the season 35-0 with tournament victories at the Durango Fall Classic, the Nike TOC Southwest and the GEICO Girls Volleyball Invitational.

Kendra Macdonald and Audrey Liddle each had five kills for Mitty, while Reese Reed added 13 assists.

Division II

The Redwood (Larkspur) Giants were indeed that in a 3-1, four-set win over Carlsbad to grab the school's first CIF state title, 16-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-20.

Redwood (30-6) withstood the pounding kills of Carlsbad's Rylee Schulz, who finished with a match-high 23 kills. Redwood libero Sophia Shaw led a back-row defense against the Wyoming-bound hitter that allowed the front row to effectively block against the Lancers' other hitters.

Redwood dropped the first set 16-25 and coach Ursula Gruenert told her team "to be just like goldfish," dropping the "Ted Lasso" quote. In other words, forget the first set.

It worked as the Giants got hitters Emma McDermott and Jaden Hendrickson going, finishing with 15 and 11 kills, respectively, including a Hendrickson kill to end the second set.

Redwood built leads of 7-2, 13-8 and 18-12 in the third set before holding a 20-15 edge. But Carlsbad, seeking its first state title, clawed back on a Schulz kill that pulled the Lancers within one at 21-20. Schulz tipped a winner a few points later to make the score 23-22, but a Brooke Leslie kill and Schulz hitting error closed out the set 25-22.

"Our blocking and defense was phenomenal tonight," Gruenert said. "It was outstanding. We were effective with our hitters. We played really smart volleyball."

The Lancers looked to even the match in the fourth set as they worked from an early deficit to knot the set at 7 on a monster kill from Schulz. But the momentum was short lived as McDermott answered with a kill and setter Kaley Mathews sandwiched aces between a Carlsbad hitting error to give Redwood a 10-8 lead.

The Giants would extend the edge to 18-12 on a Lancers service error and then later to 22-16 on Katelyn McKnew's ace before a net violation on match point brought the D-II trophy north.

McDermott led Redwood with 15 kills while Hendrickson added 11 and Leslie had seven. Mathews dished up 35 assists in the win.

Schulz pounded 23 kills on the night while Jordan Stevens had 40 assists.

Chino Hills, the Southern California No. 5 seed, swept NorCal No. 1 Carondelet (Concord) 25-15, 25-22, 26-24 to win the CIF Division III title.

The Huskies (23-15) held Carondelet (26-13) hitters to six kills in the opening set as they 4-1 and 12-7 leads before finishing off the 10-point first set win.

The Cougars led 14-12 in a back-and-forth second set before Chino Hills' Tehya Chadwick's kill set up four straight Cierra Grant service points to knot the set at 15. A Malena The' kill gave Chino Hills a 23-22 lead and successive Chadwick kills gave the Huskies a commanding two-set lead.

"Today was a pretty special day," said Chino Hills coach Joe Schnake. "We were resilient today."

Carondelet trailed much of the third set before making a lineup switch and bringing in 6-foot-2 freshman middle blocker Bella Ehrlich into the rotation. Her presence gave the Cougars life and a Corrinsea Tagaloa block and Bella Ehlrich kill gave Carondelet a 22-19 lead.

Tagaloa's kills gave the Cougars a set point at 24-20, but Taryn Saunders came up huge with a block and a kill to make the score 24-23. A hitting error from Carondelet libero Ilyssa Ocampo tied the set at 24 and Saunders added two more blocks to close out the set and match.

"It didn't surprise me," Schnake said of the comeback. "There have been plenty of times having to fight back. It doesn't matter what the score is, they're not going to give up."

Chadwick led the Huskies with 16 kills while The added 14 and Ashlee Sento had five kills in crucial moments. Eryn Lim led Chino Hills with 19 assists while Grant added 12.

Avery Ehrlich led Carondelet with nine kills as Lauren Antis and Olivia Kracht each had 12 assists.

The University Prep (Redding) Panthers came back twice to win a thrilling five-set match over Exeter in the CIF Division IV finals, taking the final set 15-11 over the Monarchs (28-11).

Twice the Panthers (42-5) found themselves trailing Exeter, falling in the first and third sets before grabbing momentum in the fourth set.

It was the first state title for UPrep in its 18-year existence and the first for a Northern Section team.

"I feel like this is so surreal, like I'm in a dream," UPrep coach Tawny Kramer said of the 19-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-18, 15-11 win.

The Panthers were led by Ashlee Kraft's 26 kills, while sophomore Elle Weaver added 16 and Kaitlyn Cabral pounded 15 kills. Morgan Wilding powered the offense with 48 assists.

Hannah Baker powered the Monarchs with 16 kills, while Haven Rich added 13 and Tiara Daly and Ivy Miller each had 10. Avery Barber had 49 assists for Exeter.

Exeter and U-Prep were tied at 14 in the fourth set when Kraft's kill gave the Panthers a 15-14 lead, where they seized control on four straight aces from Wilding.

After a Weaver kill gave U-Prep a 23-15 lead, the two teams traded hitting errors as the Panthers tied the match at 2 with the momentum.

In the fifth set, Exeter pulled even at 5-5 on a block by Jayla Iversen and Baker before a block and two kills from Weaver and two aces by Kraft gave the Panthers a 10-5 lead.

Miscommunication by the Monarchs gave U-Prep a 14-8 lead but Exeter battled back to 14-11 before a long rally ended with a Kraft kill.

Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) downed upset-minded Hillsdale (San Mateo) 25-17, 25-15, 23-25, 25-18 as Neha Tummala led the Wolverines with 43 assists and Kennedy Hill led four hitters in double figures with 15.

It was the fifth CIF title for Harvard-Westlake, but the first since 2005.

Santa Clarita Christian (Canyon Country) finished an unbeaten season with a four-set win over Skyline (Oakland).

The Cardinals took the first two sets 28-26, 25-15 before dropping the third 18-25 and capping off the win with a 28-26 victory over the first Oakland Section school to make a state finals appearance.