The second of reality arrived … and Bella Jones rose to the event.
Leaping as excessive as she may from her right-side place, the Redondo Union senior angled a crosscourt kill that clipped the highest of the web and dropped into the open court docket to finish a 12-21, 21-14, 15-13 comeback for Jones and associate Kara Namimatsu to elevate the Sea Hawks to an exhilarating 3-2 twin victory over defending champion Mira Costa within the CIF Southern Part Division 1 seaside volleyball ultimate Saturday afternoon at Lengthy Seaside Metropolis Faculty.
The Bay League rivals had cut up the primary 4 matches, with Redondo Union profitable on the primary two courts and Mira Costa prevailing on the final two, so the championship got here right down to Courtroom 3, the place Jones and Namimatsu have been down 11-8 to the Mustangs tandem of Lily Sprague and Allyn Hilt earlier than rallying again to take a 14-12 lead on an ace by Jones. Sprague’s spike landed on the baseline to stave off the primary championship level, setting the stage for Jones’ heroics.
“I told Kara let’s go out swinging … win or lose I’m going to be aggressive,” mentioned the teary-eyed Jones, who’s headed to San Diego State to play indoor volleyball. “I was really nervous and it wasn’t the best swing, it hit the tape, but all these girls mean so much to me and I wanted to win it for them.”
It was solely the second time Jones and Namimatsu had performed collectively — the primary being two days earlier than within the semifinals.
“We had an injury so we switched our lineup on the bus for JSerra and we just went with it,” Jones confessed. “Yesterday we served and passed to each other for about an hour and that helped.”
Redondo Union’s Abby Zimmerman lofts the ball over Mira Costa’s Simone Roslon within the Southern Part Division 1 women’ seaside volleyball ultimate.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Occasions)
“Our chemistry works well together and in the timeouts our coach told us to trust in each other, trust in your training,” added Namimatsu, a junior switch from Bishop Montgomery and early USC seaside volleyball commit.
The consequence was virtually a carbon copy of the Sea Hawks’ semifinal triumph, solely that point it was Abby Zimmerman and Avery Junk profitable 15-13 within the third set of the deciding match on Courtroom 1. On Saturday, the pair swept Mira Costa’s prime duo of Olga Nikolaeva and Simone Roslon, 21-17, 21-14.
“This is a really big win for us and it’s really exciting to have all five matches going on at the same time,” mentioned Zimmerman, an All-CIF junior outdoors hitter who’s going to California for indoor. “Our coaches trusted me and Avery to go up against their best. It was just our day.”
“We beat them earlier this year which gave us confidence that we could do it but we lost to them in the finals the last two years so we knew we had to play our best,” added Junk, a senior head to Florida State to play seaside with twin sister Addy, who received 22-20, 20-17 on Courtroom 2 with associate Leah Blair.
Mira Costa juniors Audrey Flanagan and Anabelle Redaelli prevailed simply 21-11, 21-18 on Courtroom 4 whereas sophomores Lerin Rosenthal and Sammy Nammack received 21-17, 25-23 on Courtroom 5.
On March 4, Redondo Union snapped Mira Costa’s 170-match profitable streak spanning over a decade (the vast majority of them coming in Interscholastic Seaside Volleyball League play earlier than the CIF sanctioned seaside volleyball). Mira Costa received the rematch 5-0 on March 26 and was poised for a three-peat.
Saturday, nonetheless, belonged to the Sea Hawks.
An identical state of affairs unfolded within the first twin Saturday morning and the ending was equally dramatic as Lengthy Seaside Poly’s Simone Millsap and Alyssa Luna overcame a match level on Courtroom 4 to win the deciding set 17-15, with Millsap serving an ace to clinch the Jackrabbits’ 3-2 conquer Anaheim Canyon within the inaugural Division 3 ultimate.
Lengthy every Poly celebrates its 3-2 conquer Anaheim Canyon within the Southern Part Division 3 women’ seaside volleyball ultimate Saturday at Lengthy Seaside Metropolis Faculty.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Occasions)
“My thought was ‘I need to get this in,’” Millsap mentioned of her final serve towards Canyon’s Erin Ly and Hannah Huang. “I just closed my eyes and envisioned it going to the left corner— and luckily it did.”
Poly’s Aleeya Salima and Lindyn Foster pulled out a 13-21, 21-17, 15-11 win on Courtroom 1 to stage the rating.
“Going into the last set we knew it come down to us and I think it was about 8-8 when we heard cheering and saw everyone running over to our court that we knew for sure,” Millsap mentioned.
“When a game’s going point by point, your goal is to get the last two,” mentioned Luna, who was known as up from JV to play with Millsap within the third spherical of the playoffs. “Our indoor team won CIF in November so this is extra special.”
The second match of Saturday’s championship tripleheader pitted two Lengthy Seaside faculties towards one another and once more it got here right down to Courtroom 4, the place Wilson sophomore Iyla Alvarado and junior Jane Morrison prevailed 21-19, 18-21, 15-11 over Millikan’s Mikayla Brumbelow and Johanna Swerdloff to safe the title for the Bruins.
Moments later, Rams juniors Sophia Orbiso and Aubrey Greene pulled out a 21-17, 17-21, 21-19 win on Courtroom 2 however by then Wilson had already clinched. Millikan was attempting to avenge 3-2 and 4-1 losses in Moore League play.
Lengthy Seaside Wilson’s Sadie Calderone is defended on the internet by Millikan’s Bethany Arnold within the Division 2 ultimate Saturday at Lengthy Seaside Metropolis Faculty.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Occasions)
“It was 2-1 at that point, but I was like ‘we need to do this!,” Morrison mentioned. “It helps having people there supporting me. Even though we’d beaten them twice this is the finals and we knew it could go either way.”
“No matter what’s going on with the other matches, we want to win ours,” Alvarado added. “This is our second year playing together, we have good chemistry, we talk strategy and pride ourselves on being mentally stronger than the other team.”
