SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The Mater Dei High girls volleyball team seems to be rounding into form at the right time, which has spelled trouble for the rest of the top teams in the CIF-Southern Section.
The Monarchs advanced to their third straight section final with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-15 victory Saturday night over host San Juan Hills in a Division 1 semifinal.
Mater Dei (30-4), seeded third, will be playing for its third straight section title Nov. 8 at Cerritos College against top-seed Sierra Canyon in a rematch of last year’s final.
Mater Dei, in the section finals for the 11th time in 12 seasons, is attempting to become the first team since Newport Harbor in 1997-99 to win three straight titles in the top CIF-Southern Section division.
San Juan Hills, which has lost to Mater Dei in all nine meetings against the Monarchs since 2009, will continue its season in the state playoffs that begin Nov. 12.
“I think we’re playing at the level we wanted to be at in September, but we weren’t there,” Mater Dei coach Dan O’Dell said. “I think we’re coming together. The girls are playing great right now. They all seem to be locked in.”
The Orange County teams were playing each other for the first time in two seasons and for the first occasion in the playoffs since 2017. The Stallions were seeking their first section championship appearance in program history.
“I really wanted to focus more on us serving tough,” San Juan Hills first-year coach Cassie Strickland said. “If you get them out of system, then we have a shot.”
Mater Dei didn’t get out of system, as the Monarchs never trailed after the first five points of any set, O’Dell never needed to use a timeout and the Stallions used all six of theirs during the contest.
Only once in the match did San Juan Hills (22-6) score more than two points in a row and that was a four-point run in the third set that made it 18-13.
Mater Dei’s focus was on San Juan Hills 6-foot-5 sophomore Megan Hodges, who led the Stallions with 13 kills. But the Monarchs were able to avoid Hodges enough that she only recorded a single block.
“I think we were trying to get more people involved,” O’Dell said. “We knew when (Hodges) was up, she’s obviously an amazing blocker and player. Going away from her a little bit was important but at the same time, we trust our players regardless of who’s in front of them.”
Mater Dei continued to demonstrate its cohesiveness, resulting in 16 consecutive victories since a Sept. 20 semifinal loss to Marymount at the Durango Fall Classic in Las Vegas.
“Our No. 1 (focus) was No. 33 Megan Hodges,” junior Westley Matavao said. “We prepped for Megan and after that we studied exactly what their outsides were doing and that’s how we won.”
Senior Layli Ostovar had 15 kills and just two errors in 31 attempts and Matavao added 14 kills and three errors in 25 attempts for Mater Dei.
“I agree that this has by far been our best match all season,” Ostovar said. “We’ve been working hard whether it’s in the weight room or as a team in practice.
“We knew if we won this game we’re going to the finals. With that goal in mind, everybody’s like, ‘we’re not letting up.’”