SANTA ANA – If Mater Dei’s girls volleyball team plays in the CIF Southern Section playoffs the way it did in much of Tuesday’s match, the Monarchs just might win a second straight CIF championship.
Mater Dei played close to flawlessly in the first set against Santa Margarita for a 25-17 win. Santa Margarita spiritedly made the Monarchs work hard in the second and third sets won by Mater Dei 25-23 and 26-24 in the Trinity League match at Mater Dei High.
The Monarchs sweep of the Eagles clinched them a share of the Trinity League championship. Mater Dei, No. 1 in the Orange County top 10, is 29-4 overall and 4-0 in the four-team league with two league matches remaining as the playoffs approach. No. 4 Santa Margarita is 18-10 overall and in second place in the Trinity League with a 2-2 league record. Both of the Eagles league losses are to Mater Dei.
Mater Dei outside hitters Westley Matavao and Layli Ostovar shared team-high honors with 10 kills each. Matavao is a sophomore who transferred from Orange Lutheran where she was the only non-senior on last season’s All-Orange County first team. Ostovar is a junior who was All-County second team last year.
Monarchs senior outside hitter Presley Kiffin added nine kills.
In the first Santa Margarita-Mater Dei league match on Sept. Santa Margarita beat Mater Dei 25-19 in the first set. The Monarch then won three in a row – 25-20, 27-25 and 25-13 – to take the match.
“When we beat Santa Margarita last time we got crushed in set one,” O’Dell said. “We wanted to make sure we came out tonight and win set one. So we came out ready to play.
“And then we were a little inconsistent when SM’s serves got to us a little bit and SM went on some good runs.”
Ostovar likes how Mater Dei can score points in a variety of ways, with a big and talented front line and skillful players elsewhere on the court.
“We have such a deep bench, too,” she said. “All of our outsides, our middles and even our defense is great so we can utilize all of those. We can go anywhere and rely on them to score.”
Mater Dei took an early lead in the first set and dominated from there, controlling the action at the net and with expert passing and defense to build a 14-6 advantage and a 21-9 lead.
The Monarchs went ahead 11-4 in the second set but the Eagles, led by 6-foot-4 sophomore outside hitter Ireland Real who was outstanding all night, battled back and caught up at 18-18 before losing 25-23.
Santa Margarita put together an 8-2 run in the third set to take a 22-21 lead before the Monarchs reasserted control for their 26-24 win.
CIF Southern Section playoff brackets will be released Oct. 19. Division 1 was an eight-team bracket last year when Mater Dei won the division championship. The size of each division’s brackets will be determined at the end of the season.
Teams will be placed into divisions based upon their rating at the end of the regular season. In this week’s Massey Ratings used by the Southern Section, Mater Dei is No. 2 behind Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth, and Santa Margarita is No. 8.
Mater Dei’s two remaining regular-season games are league games at home against JSerra on Thursday and at Lutheran on Oct. 15. Santa Margarita finishes the regular season with league games at Orange Lutheran on Thursday and at JSerra on Oct. 15.
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