REDONDO BEACH – The Mater Dei girls volleyball team ran through all of the emotions in Tuesday’s Southern California Regional girls volleyball final, but ended up on disappointment.
After losing the first two sets, the Monarchs rallied to win the next two and served for match point on two separate occasions in the fifth set, but in the end, they would end up on the short end, losing the final set to host Redondo Union.
Redondo Union defeated Mater Dei, 25-20, 25-23, 25-27, 19-25, 20-18, to advance to Saturday’s CIF-SS Division I CIF State final at Santiago Canyon College.
The match came to a frustrating end for the Monarchs as they were called for five net violations in the fifth set, and several of them came after Mater Dei had its first match point at 14-13.
“Every single time my player would come down confused (about the call) and tell me they weren’t in the net,” Mater Dei coach Dan O’Dell. “Multiple really bad calls. I don’t want to take anything away from Redondo, they played great, but the refs … I mean we won the match.
“If it was 2-2, they would have called the double hit (on Redondo) at 14-13. The up ref didn’t want to call it, I know because it was match point, but it is your job. They (the refs) were on different pages. I’ve never seen a worst display of refereeing in my life … especially in that condensed moment.”
Mater Dei’s final match point came at 18-17, but Redondo stayed alive with a block. The Sea Hawks then scored the final two points for the victory.
“I told the girls, to me, you’re champions in my book,” O’Dell said. “I understand that the scoreboard we’re not going to be champions, but tonight, I thought we were the better team at the end. To me they’re champions and I hope they can feel proud of themselves for what they accomplished, but it is just unfortunate how it had to end.”
For Mater Dei to even be in that situation is remarkable considering how it began the match. Momentum started to swing in the third set as the Monarchs rallied from a 23-20 to eventually win the set.
“We served the ball tougher, passed it better and Alyse (Ford) was on fire,” O’Dell said, mentioning the keys to the comeback. “Camille (Heyward) was great coming off of the bench to calm our passing down a little bit, and then we just fought to steal game three and then took that momentum and rode it.”
Ford led the Monarchs with 37 kills. Shannon Scully had 19.
This was the third match of the year between the Monarchs and Sea Hawks. The previous two, including the CIF-SS Division 1AA final were won by Sea Hawks.
