Mira Costa, Redondo girls volleyball teams enjoy first-round playoff sweeps
Sophomore libero Nalani Iosia has played a vital role in Redondo’s success this season. Photo
Fifth-ranked Redondo dominated its first-round match of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoffs Tuesday, sweeping visiting Flintridge Sacred Heart 25-7, 25-16, 25-13, extending the Sea Hawks winning streak to 18 matches.
Brooklyn Schirmer led Redondo with 12 kills and Jasmine Davis and Nalani Iosia each recorded eight digs.
Redondo (31-4) will play at Trabuco Hills (10-6) in the second round on Thursday.
All matches with the exception of the finals or a mutually agreed new start time begin at 7 p.m.
With his team getting healthier, Redondo head coach Tommy Chaffins believes the strong competition his squad faced at the end of the regular season has helped prepare the Sea Hawks for a run at the championship.
“We withstood a strong challenge by Mira Costa, who jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the third set, but then we raised our game and went on a 22-9 run to get the sweep,” Chaffins said of the regular-season finale. “It was great to get the win for our four seniors on Senior Night. I thought all of our players really played well. In particular, I liked the way our setters Kira Zimmerman and Kami Miner played. Kira had what I thought was her finest defensive performance to go along with her great leadership and decision making. Kami simply gets better every time I see her, which is hard to do because her skill set is so high to begin with.”
Bay League runner-up Mira Costa (16-8) swept Woodbridge 25-20, 25-13, 25-13 and will travel to take on an old nemesis in No. 2 Mater Dei (30-5) on Thursday.
Other Bay League representatives are Palos Verdes and Peninsula compete in Division 2. In an all-South Bay match, Palos Verdes (23-11) won a hard-fought 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 battle with visiting Bishop Montgomery in the first round and will play at Los Osos (19-10) in the second round.
Peninsula was eliminated by Yucaipa 3-1 and South Torrance lost to second-seeded Orange Lutheran 3-1.
In Division 3, Chadwick was swept at Saddleback Valley Christian and in Division 4, Torrance was eliminated by La Habra and West Torrance fell to Santa Monica.
In Division 4 El Segundo (18-11) won its Division 4 opener with a 3-1 victory at Downey 3-1 and will host Moorpark (11-8 ) Thursday.
In Division 5, Coastal champion Vistamar (19-5) swept Norwalk advancing to take on Xavier Prep (21-4)
Quarterfinals are slated for Saturday, Nov. 4, semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 7 and finals Nov. 10-11.
Brackets and results are available at cifss.org.