St. Bonaventure girls' volleyball team after their win, advancing them to the SoCal semifinals. (St. Bonaventure High School/Facebook)
Despite a valiant effort, St. Bonaventure of Ventura fell just shy of the Southern California Regionals’ Division IV title, losing to Nordhoff on Nov. 19.
In a match pitting the division’s top two seeds, No. 1 Nordhoff prevailed 25-28, 25-16, 29-31, 25-14 over the No. 2 Seraphs, who ended their season 27-9. St. Bonaventure had reached the finals with a marathon semifinal win over No. 6 El Camino Real of Woodland Hills, 25-17, 25-21, 24-26, 27-29, 15-10.
In the Open Division semis on Nov. 16, third-seeded Mater Dei rallied to edge No. 2 Redondo Union 19-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-23, 15-6. It avenged the Monarchs’ loss to Redondo in the D-1 finals a week earlier.
But in the Nov. 19 Regional final, Mater Dei fell to No. 1 Torrey Pines 25-17, 25-23, 23-25, 25-20. Torrey Pines – which had taken out No. 4 Marymount in the semis, 25-23, 32-20, 25-15 – then went on to win the state open title in straight sets over Marin Catholic on Nov. 23.