The high school girls volleyball season is not quite a month old and some interesting observations can already be made, especially after the conclusion of the recent fifth annual Mustangs South Bay Invitational.
The 11-team event took place Sept. 19-20 at two area sites: Otay Ranch High School and Olympian High School. Pool play took place on Sept. 19, with bracket play commencing the following day.
Otay Ranch, Sweetwater, Olympian and Chula Vista participated from the Metro Conference.
Otay Ranch finished 5-1 over the two days of competition, including a 3-0 finish in bracket play.
Otay Ranch defeated Olympian 26-24, 25-16 in the bracket final to close out the tournament.
The Mustangs, who finished pool play 2-1 with wins over Santana and San Gabriel Mission and a loss to Tri-City Christian, opened the final day of competition by defeating Mt. Carmel 25-21, 25-17 and then topped Fresno’s Central by scores of 25-19, 22-25, 15-10 to draw the Metro-Mesa League rival Eagles in the teams’ finale.
Olympian defeated both Christian and Helix by 2-1 scores in bracket play. The Eagles flew past Christian by scores of 25-18, 24-26, 15-8 and defeated Helix by scores of 23-25, 25-23, 15-5.
Sweetwater defeated Chula Vista 25-14, 25-22 in the teams’ bracket final.
Metro-Mesa preview
Both Olympian and Otay Ranch offered previews that the Metro-Mesa League championship race shouldn’t be a one- or two-horse race. Eastlake is off to a 10-7 start while defending league champion Bonita Vista — hit heavy by graduation — is 5-7.
The Eagles and Mustangs both look to have a say in the final order of the league standings based on results thus far.
Otay Ranch is currently riding high with a 12-5 overall record while Olympian is 9-5. Mater Dei Catholic is 3-7 in non-league competition.
League play tips off Oct. 7.
“There are a lot of banners on the wall but we’ve only put one up in 11 years,” new ORHS head coach Cory Gove explained while admiring the banner-laden wall in the school’s gymnasium. “We’d like to put another one up.”
Gove is ushering in a new era in Mustangs history — it says so on the back of his t-shirt — and he would like to think it will begin with a championship showing. He doesn’t feel there is any reason why his team shouldn’t contend for this year’s championship despite dominance by both Bonita Vista and Eastlake in past seasons.
“I like the girls’ commitment and dedication — we’re picking it up,” said Gove, who brings international experience as a player to the coaching position.
Top players for the Mustangs this season include sophomore outside hitter Grecia Cordero, senior setter and captain Dominique Conrady and sophomore outside hitter Ryann Mojica.
Cordero led Otay Ranch with 321 kills last season while ranking second in both digs (68) and aces (45). Conrady was the Mustangs’ assist leader in 2013 with 485.
Junior Khalia Jordan leads Olympian with 124 kills to start this season, followed on the score sheet by sophomore teammate Lauren Appleman with 120 kills. Jordan also leads the Eagles with 24 aces while sharing the team lead with teammates Taylor Roberts and Carolina Villa with 14 blocks each.
Sophomore Yvette Macias tops Olympian with 190 digs, followed by Jordan with 110 and Appleman with 82. Senior Krista Schmidt is the team leader with 51 assists.
Red alert
Sweetwater finished 1-5 in this year’s South Bay Invitational, but defeated Metro-Pacific League rival Chula Vista, 2-0, in its final match.
Red Devils coach Erik Hernandez feels his team — off to a 5-9 start — remains a solid contender for this year’s league title.
Sweetwater finished runner-up to Hilltop for last year’s inaugural Metro-Pacific championship.
The defending league champion Lancers are off to a 0-11 start this season.
“We are a little young, with three sophomores and two juniors, but I think we are going to be competitive,” the SuHi coach explained. “I think it should be us and Hilltop again battling at the top.”
Hernandez notes the final game of the 2014 league schedule has Hilltop visiting Sweetwater on Nov. 6. “That could be for the championship right there,” the Devils coach noted optimistically.
In the meantime, Sweetwater has been logging quite a bit of game time on the court. The Devils placed fifth in their own tournament, held Sept. 5-6. The defending Metro-South Bay League champion Montgomery Aztecs topped the field by turning back the El Camino Wildcats in the title match while San Diego topped Mission Bay for fourth place.
Sweetwater has not shied away from the competition. The Devils took on San Diego Section top guns Christian and Mt. Carmel, along with Central High from Fresno, in SBI pool play. The National City team lost all three games by 2-0 scores.
However, Sweetwater bounced back with a bit more spring in its game, losing 2-0 to San Gabriel Mission (14-25, 18-25) and 2-1 to Santana (17-25, 31-29, 8-15) before spiking the Spartans.
Impact players for the Devils this season include senior middle blocker Leticia Urenda and junior setter Bree Reid.
Hernandez noted that Kim Gutierrez, the shining star on last year’s SuHi team, is now playing at USF as a freshman libero. The Dons have a game scheduled Oct. 4 at USD. The SuHi coach siad his team plans to attend that game to support Gutierrez.
Girls volleyball:
Aztecs slam to 10-1 start
Montgomery, runner-up for last year’s Division IV section girls volleyball title, improved to 10-1 this season after sweeping visiting High Tech San Diego, 3-0, on Sept. 18. The Aztecs’ lone loss during that stretch was at Christian on Sept. 16.
Montgomery ranks among the Division III leaders along with Olympian, El Camino and San Diego.
Team leaders for the Aztecs include Shawna Jurlina and Lyssette Serna with 92 and 84 kills, respectively, while Mikayla Anaya tops the team with 25 aces and 196 assists.
Serna also lead the team with 125 digs while Jurlina paced the team with 20 blocks.
Castle Park, which defeated both Sweetwater and San Ysidro at the season opening Sweetwater tournament, logged a 3-0 victory against visiting Mar Vista on Sept. 18 to improve to 3-4 on the season.
Girls field hockey:
Barons shut out Spartans; Lancers blast Raiders 6-0
Metro Conference play faced off Sept. 25 with the defending league co-champion Hilltop Lancers recording a 6-0 win over the host Southwest Raiders.
Hilltop improved to 2-3 overall with the victory.
In another league opener on Sept. 25, Bonita Vista shut out host Chula Vista, 4-0, behind goals from Alyssa Escamilla, Tori Hallmark, Miranda Cardenas and Boran Yoon. The Barons (5-2-1 overall) led 1-0 at halftime before pouring in three second-half goals. Anayeli Ochoa, Elizabeth Des Enfants, Nicolle Ellorin and Yoon each picked up assists in the win.
Des Enfants leads Bonita Vista in season scoring with five goals and two assists.
In games played on Monday, Eastlake (3-3 overall) topped visiting Southwest, 4-0, on two goals by Isabella Hook and single goals by Chloe Isbell and Brianna Uribe, while Otay Ranch (2-8-1 overall) slipped past Chula Vista, 1-0, as Alexis Horta recorded the shutout win.
