Girls’ volleyball: Six Catholic teams reach CIF-SS semifinals

Mater Dei and Marymount continued their path toward a potential rematch of last year’s Division 1 final by winning their quarterfinal matches Oct. 24 in the CIF-Southern Section girls’ volleyball playoffs.

The No. 1 Monarchs (37-2) defeated Long Beach Poly 25-18, 25-23, 25-22, and will play No. 4 Sierra Canyon (31-9) in the Oct. 27 semifinals. The teams met in the first match of the season on Aug. 16, won by Mater Dei in five sets (16-14 in the fifth).

After a rugged start, the No. 3 Sailors (31-8) battled back to defeat Foothill/Santa Ana, 19-25, 30-28, 25-14, 25-16. In the semifinals, Marymount plays No. 2 Redondo Union (34-2), which beat the Sailors in three hard-fought sets back on Aug. 30.

Four other Catholic school teams advanced to the semifinals with quarterfinal victories:

• No. 5 Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks (22-8) stopped St. Joseph/Lakewood, 25-13, 15-25, 25-21, 25-21, and will play No. 6 Los Alamitos (22-13) in the Division 2 semis.
• Bishop Montgomery (21-12) came from behind to beat Alta Loma in the D-4 quarters, 25-19, 21-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-8. The third-seeded Knights now face No. 10 Poly/Pasadena (18-5) in the semis.
• Unseeded St. Anthony (22-10) rallied to upend Oak Hills, 13-25, 25-11, 25-10, 25-22, for a D-5 semifinal berth against Ontario Christian (32-2), the division’s No. 1 team at the end of the regular season.
• Villanova Prep (14-5), another non-seeded team, continued its surprising run by ousting No. 3 Santa Clarita Christian, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23, to gain the D-8 semis against No. 4 Rancho Christian (27-7).

In Division 3, No. 6 Alemany (26-6) was defeated by No. 3 Laguna Beach, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21.

All semifinals will be played Oct. 27, and the finals on Nov. 3, followed by Southern California Regional and State Championships.

Mike Nelson is the former editor of The Tidings (predecessor of Angelus News).

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