CORONA – The Villa Park girls volleyball team was admittedly tense for its CIF-SS Division 1A semifinals match at Santiago of Corona.
By the time the Spartans calmed down and found their game, it was too late.
Villa Park trailed all of the first two sets and couldn’t hold a lead in the third, and its season came to an end with a 25-15, 25-19, 25-21 sweep at the hands of the Sharks.
“We played like there was nothing left to lose in that third game, that’s why we came alive and kept it closer,” senior outside hitter Payton Grahovic said. “The first two games we took it way too serious and weren’t having fun. We could’ve competed, we just didn’t tonight.”
Santiago (35-2) needed barely an hour to win the match and punch its ticket to the finals as Villa Park (26-7) simply had no answer for an efficient, well-rounded Sharks attack.
Four players had at least eight kills for Santiago, led by Bailee Turang’s 17.
“That’s been our offense all year,” Sharks coach Arlen Elvik said. “It’s hard to defend us because you can’t focus on one player.”
Santiago also contained Grahovac, a Long Beach State commit who entered averaging 5.2 kills per set. Grahovac managed only eight kills and the Spartans weren’t able to replace her missing production. Emma Calle’s eight kills were the only support Villa Park could muster.
“They’re blockers are very, very good,” Grahovac said. “They were really smart with their serves too, and that prevented us from setting up.”
The Sharks led wire-to-wire in the first set and cruised to an easy 10-point win behind Turang’s first five kills of the night.
Santiago raced out to a 7-1 lead in the second thanks to a bevy of Villa Park errors, withstood a late rally that saw its lead cut to 21-19, and finished with four unanswered.
The third set was a battle with lead changes all the way until it was tied 20, but the Sharks reeled off a 5-1 run, capped by an emphatic kill from middle blocker Makayla Wolfe, to end it and send the sizable home crowd streaming onto the court.
“They’re a very well-rounded team that plays good defense and really fast offense,” Spartans coach Megan Spurgin said. “It’s hard to stop them.”
