Bring it on! That seems to be the rallying cry of the high-flying Olympian High School girls volleyball team these days.
The Lady Eagles won their second consecutive San Diego Section championship Saturday by sweeping the Valhalla Lady Norsemen 25-15, 25-11, 25-21 in the Division II final at Cathedral Catholic High School.
Olympian made history last year by winning the school’s first championship in the sport with a successful run to capture the Division III title. The Lady Eagles continue to make history, no matter what division they are in.
“We had something to prove and we proved it – we can play with any team,” Olympian junior Lauren Appelman told a camera crew from KUSI-TV after the team’s latest CIF victory.
Appelman led the Lady Eagles with 11 kills, 10 serving aces and 10 digs in the championship sweep over Valhalla (19-0).
Alex Hightower had five kills and 10 digs while Yvette Macias had 10 digs and Andrea Ramirez turned in a team-leading 10 assists. Laurie Orbita also contributed eight assists.
Olympian won all its four playoff matches to reign as Division II champions this year. The championship run started with a three-game sweep of 16th-seeded Clairemont in the opening round on Nov. 10, followed by a 3-0 victory against eighth-seeded Pacific Ridge in the quarterfinals on Nov. 13.
The Lady Eagles defeated fourth-seeded Mission Vista (24-11) on Nov. 17 in the division semifinals.
The Lady Norsemen eliminated 15th-seeded Mission Hills, seventh-seeded Granite Hills and third-seeded Escondido to meet Olympian in the finals.
Go Green
Mar Vista joined Olympian as the second Metro Conference team to reach this year’s championship round. The second-seeded Lady Mariners finished runner-up to top-seeded Madison in the Division V title game played Friday at Canyon Crest Academy.
Mar Vista (16-11) swept both seventh-seeded Mountain Empire (quarterfinals) and third-seeded San Diego Academy (semifinals) to reach the finals. The Lady Mariners topped Mountain Empire by scores of 25-23, 25-12, 25-17 and eliminated San Diego Academy by scores of 25-15, 25-11, 25-18.
Madison (15-8) won in three games in the championship round 25-19, 25-19, 25-12.
Dylana Guyon led the Lady Warhawks with six kills and four serving aces.
Ana James paced Mar Vista with eight kills while Isabelle Hastings had three kills and Pamela Cota had two serving aces.
The championship game loss snapped a five-match winning streak by the Lady Mariners.
State playoffs
Both Olympian received a berth in the Southern California regional playoffs. The opening round of the regional playoffs starts Tuesday, Nov. 24, with second-round action scheduled Saturday, Nov. 28 and the regional championships slated Dec. 1 at the host school.
The state championship finals are scheduled Dec. 5 at Santiago Canyon College in Orange.
Olympian received the No. 2 seed in the Southern California regionals and will host seventh-seeded Chatsworth (26-16) in Tuesday’s opening round. Game time is 7 p.m.
The Olympian-Chatsworth winner will face the Santa Monica-Templeton winner in Saturday’s regional semifinals.
Appelman leads the Lady Eagles with 374 kills and ranks third with 256 digs while Hightower has 289 kills, 67 serving aces and 420 digs. Macias has 533 digs and 53 serving aces while Orbita has 482 assists. Andrea Ramirez has 351 assists while Taylor Roberts has 70 blocks.
Olympian advances in state volleyball playoffs
The San Diego Section Division II champion Lady Eagles, seeded second in the Southern California Division III regional championship bracket, defeated seventh-seeded Chatsworth 25-13, 25-12, 25-16 in Tussday’s quarterfinals. Olympian advances to play third-seeded Santa Monica (17-6) on Saturday, Nov. 28. The Lady Eagfles will host the SoCal regional match, starting at 7 p.m.
Lauren Appelman led Olympian with 13 kills while Yvette Macias recorded 18 digs and Taylor Roberts had three blocks.
