Warriors reach CIF title match

The Brethren Christian girls’ volleyball team will play for the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA championship this weekend.

The Warriors earned a 1 p.m. Saturday date at Cypress College (Gym 1) with Academy League rival St. Margaret’s by defeating visiting Serra, champion of the Camino Real League and the division’s No. 3-seed, 25-23, 17-25, 28-26, 25-23, in a tight semifinal match Tuesday at Liberty Christian High in Huntington Beach.

Randi Braak had 17 kills, Rebecca Rudd eight kills and Meghan Haney and Brooke LaPierre both had six kills for the Warriors.

Brethren Christian finished third and St. Margaret’s won the championship in the Academy League. The teams will meet for the third time this season Saturday.

The Tartans defeated the Warriors twice in league play, 3-1 and 3-2.

“We are so excited to be playing for a CIF championship,” first-year Brethren Christian Coach Patricia Daugherty said. “The great thing about our team is that it has really come together to play as a team. There’s not one or two stars here, but a complete team and that has made the difference in the playoffs.”

Brethren Christian entered the playoffs unranked, but the Warriors moved into the semifinals by knocking off the division’s second-ranked team, Laguna Blanca, in a sweep (25-18, 25-21, 25-17) in a quarterfinal match Saturday. Braak had 12 kills and Rudd nine kills for the Warriors.

Laguna Blanca had swept the Warriors back in September.

There was the possibility of an all-Huntington Beach 4AA Division final, but in Tuesday’s other semifinal match, St. Margaret’s swept visiting Ocean View, 25-16, 25-17, 25-17.

Ocean View won the Golden West League title and was ranked fourth in the division and had a first-round bye. The Seahawks swept both Colony (Mt. Baldy League No. 2) and Viewpoint (Liberty League No. 1) to reach the semifinals.

“They are a very good team,” Daugherty said of St. Margaret’s. “They are well-coached and it’s going to be another tough one.

“It’s amazing to make it this far and I’m very blessed to be here with this team. It’s my first year here and it couldn’t be better. We’re going to leave it all on the court Saturday.”

The season came to an end last weekend for two other local teams.

Edison, the No. 3 team from the Sunset League, used victories over Flintridge Sacred Heart (Mission League No. 2) and Marmonte League champion Thousand Oaks to advance to face Moore League champ Long Beach Poly Saturday in a Division 1AA quarterfinal match. The Jackrabbits, ranked second in the division, defeated the sixth-ranked Chargers, 25-19, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20.

The Chargers used a balanced attack to score a 18-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-12 second-round victory over Thousand Oaks on Nov. 11. Cassie Strickland had 12 kills and Avae Masaniai and Megan Reza had 11 and nine kills, respectively, for Edison.

Huntington Beach traveled to Lakewood for its second-round Division 1AA contest, and the host Lancers (Moore League No. 3) scored a 25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 25-19 victory Saturday.

The Oilers, an at-large playoff entry from the Sunset League, knocked off Trinity League champ Santa Margarita and Channel League champ Dos Pueblos to reach the quarterfinals.

*

Boys’ Water Polo

Ocean View reached the semifinal round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs for the first time in program history when the Seahawks downed Cabrillo of Lompoc, 11-9, in a Division 7 overtime thriller Saturday.

Nick Do and Steven Kornahrens scored in overtime to send Ocean View, the second-place team from the Golden West League, to a Wednesday semifinal date at Arroyo Grande High with top-seed Santa Ynez.

The score from Wednesday’s game wasn’t available at press time. The winner of Wednesday’s match advances to the division’s championship game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center in Irvine.

Ocean View began its postseason run Nov. 11 with another 11-9 triumph, this one on the road at Mt. Baldy League champ Don Lugo.

Two other local boys’ water polo teams had their seasons end in the past week.

Huntington Beach, the No. 3 team from the Sunset League, was edged at home by South Coast League champ and second-ranked El Toro, 8-7, in a quarterfinal round Division 1 playoff game last Friday. Tiki Toplak and Jordan Lisnock both scored twice, Noah Harrison, Max Schultz and Griffin Camps each had a goal and Brandon Lucia recorded 12 saves for the seventh-ranked Oilers.

Edison, which defeated Buena in a Division 1 wild-card game Nov. 10, fell to top-ranked Mater Dei, 19-5, last Friday. Freshman Troy Oates led the Chargers in scoring with two goals and Brent Bazzell, Kyle Spreeman and Tony Morelli each scored once.

Goalie John Mroch had five saves.

Mater Dei led, 13-5, in the fourth quarter when Edison coach Diggy Riley subbed in his bench and moved Mroch into the field to give Nate Sfreddo, who will replace Mroch in the net next year, some “looks.”

“We came into the game with a strategy to try and slow down the offense of Mater Dei,” Riley said. “We decided to keep three players back in our defensive zone and run a three-man offense.

“I could not be more proud of these boys and what they accomplished this year. We are a team that practiced all but the last week of the entire season in our pool at Edison, which is not only small but shallow as well. Show me another team in the division playoffs that went as far as we did with the facility we train in. There aren’t any. We battled so many top teams this season and earned every bit of our postseason bid as a wild-card team. Our 16 wins was the most in the nine years I have been coach. We are already thinking about next year and that season begins [Saturday], literally.”

*

Cross-Country

The Marina boys’ team has advanced to the Division 1 CIF Southern Section Cross-Country Championships, which will be held at 10:25 a.m. Saturday at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut. The Vikings will go up against Arcadia, Burroughs of Burbank, California (Cal Hi), Corona, Dana Hills, El Toro, Great Oak, M.L. King, Long Beach Poly, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands East Valley, Trabuco Hills, Troy, Valley View and Yucaipa.

The Edison girls’ team is a finalist in the Division 2 team race, scheduled to start at 10:45 a.m. The Chargers will compete against Adolfo Camarillo, Ayala, Canyon of Anaheim, Claremont, Colony, Foothill, Mira Costa, Newbury Park, Redondo Union, Royal, Saugus, Segerstrom, Serrano, Sultana and Thousand Oaks.