Top-seeded Redondo defeated Great Oaks in four sets Tuesday night and will take on third-seeded Mater Dei for the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA girls volleyball championship On Saturday at 8 p.m. at Cerritos College.
Redondo (34-2) avenged last year’s quarterfinal loss at Great Oak, defeating the Wolfpack 25-19, 12-25, 25-23, 25-15. Redondo reached the finals in 2012 but lost a thrilling five-set contest to Marymount.
The win marked the first time in three matches that the Sea Hawks captured the first set. After a hiccup in the second set, Coach Tommy Chaffins’ squad settled down and took control.
‘The team and I are happy but not content where we are,” Chaffins said We are happy to have defeated Great Oak, a fine program who knocked out Marymount the previous round and had knocked us out last year. Having the match at home was a tremendous asset to us, and we took advantage of having our fans and not having to drive two hours like we did last year. We had a gritty effort defensively, and served lights out. Norene Iosia was particularly masterful dishing the ball and serving rockets.”
Redondo took a 13-6 lead and an Abril Bustamante kill put the Sea Hawks 22-18. Great Oak rallied to close the gap 24-23 but a service error into the net gave Redondo the win.
With setter Norene Iosia spreading the ball around and effectively using dunks to score, Redondo’s balanced offense was too much for Great Oak to overcome.
Bustamante led Redondo with 10 kills; Kristen Hamlin added nine kills and three blocks, Megan Rice had eight kills and two blocks and Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani posted seven kills.
Redondo’s serving game was a key to the victory with Iosia recording five aces and Hayes Honea added three aces.
Mater Dei (28-10) defeated Corona del Mar 25-20, 13-25, 25-15, 26-24. Corona del Mar eliminated No. 2 Lakewood in the quarterfinals.
“Mater Dei is led by Alyse Ford-Wallace who is headed to USC,” Chaffins said. “She is a stud outside hitters who is a high flyer. They have many fine players who are going to major colleges across their lineup like us. I know both sides will be amped for the match.”
The CIF Southern California Regional Championships take place Nov. 25, Nov. 29 and Dec. 2. The CIF State championship will be held Dec. 6 at Santiago Canyon College.
In Division 2AA, second-seeded South Torrance (24-9) defeated visiting Esperanza 23-25, 25-18, 24-26, 25-14, 15-6 and will face No. 1 Village Christian (34-2) for the title Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cerritos College.
