The San Diego Section spring sports playoffs have faced off in boys and girls lacrosse, boys volleyball, boys tennis and girls beach volleyball
South County teams, of course, are included.
Boys lacrosse
A total of 42 teams (out of 58) qualified to fill four divisional brackets: six in the Open Division and 12 each in Division I, Division II and Division III.
South County qualifiers include Mater Dei Catholic (No. 3 in Division III at 12-5), Olympian (No. 8 in Division III at 8-9) and San Ysidro (No. 12 in Division III at 7-9).
The Metro Conference included eight boys teams this season — four each in the Metro-Mesa League and Metro-South Bay League.
Mater Dei Catholic finished as this season’s Metro-Mesa League co-champion with Eastlake (9-8), which was not included in the playoff bracket. Both teams finished with 5-1 league records. Olympian and Bonita Vista tied with 1-5 league records.
San Ysidro finished as the Metro-South Bay League champion with a 6-0 record ahead of Hilltop, which finished 4-2 in league play. The Cougars defeated the Lancers by scores of 6-2 and 9-5 to win the teams’ league series.
Top-seeded teams include Carlsbad (Division I), Westview (Division II) and Classical Academy (Division III).
Olympian pulled off an 8-6 first-round victory over ninth-seeded Canyon Hills (9-10) while San Ysidro saw its inspired season end with an 11-3 loss to fifth-seeded Clairemont (11-5).
Mater Dei Catholic received a bye to Friday’s quarterfinals.
“We’re always trying to extend our season and keep playing as long as possible, especially for our seniors, so we we’re happy to see we got the No. 8 seed,” Olympian coach Keith Quigley said.
“It was a close game with Canyon Hills. The team is happy we were able to finish them off and win the game. More lacrosse is a good thing. Now we’re off to play Classical Academy on Friday and we’ll need to bring our top game.”
Sean Burke led the Eagles in he playoff win with three goals and three assists while Nolan Tompkins added three goals and two assists. Mikey Jorgensen collected three goals and one assist whlle the team was credited with 12 goalkeeper saves.
Quarterfinals in Division II and Division III are Friday, May 9, while the Division I quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday, May 9.
Semifinal contests are slated Tuesday, May 13, in Division I and Division III and Wednesday, May 14, in Division II.
Westview High School will host the boys divisional finals. The Division I final is scheduled for Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. Three more finals follow on Saturday, May 17: Division III at 11 a.m., Division II at 2 p.m. and Open Division at 5 p.m.
The six Open Division teams are No. 1 Torrey Pines (13-5), No. 2 La Costa Canyon (11-6), No. 3 Cathedral Catholic (16-4), No. 4 Santa Fe Christian (19-9), No. 5 Coronado (13-5) and No. 6 Bishop’s (8-8). The top two seeds receive byes in the quarterfinals (May 8) and move directly to the semifinals (May 14).
Photos by Jon Bigornia
Girls lacrosse
A total of 61 teams competed in the section’s girls circuit this season with 42 advancing to postseason play.
South County playoff qualifiers include Eastlake (No. 6 in Division II at 14-3), San Ysidro (No. 12 in Division II at 8-8), Olympian (No. 2 in Division III at 10-10) and Bonita Vista (No. 4 in Division III at 14-6).
The Metro Conference fielded 10 girls teams this season — five each in the Metro-Mesa League and Metro-South Bay League.
Eastlake finished as the Metro-Mesa League champion with an 8-0 league record ahead of San Ysidro and Castle Park, both with 4-4 league records. Bonita Vista finished 8-0 in league play as the Metro-South Bay League champion after finishing last season as the league co-champion.
Olympian will host seventh-seeded West Hills (5-12) in Friday’s quarterfinals at 6 p.m. after the seventh-seeded Lady Wolf Pack defeated 10th-seeded Del Lago Academy (8-8) by a score of 9-2 in Tuesday’s opening round.
“The Olympian girls had a really strong season,” said Quigley, who coaches both gender squads. “Honestly, I feel our record could even be much better if we could have won many of those close games we played. We really battled with some of the Division II teams. But all an all, we are thrilled to have the No. 2 seed (in Division III) and look forward to hosting West Hills on Friday night at Olympian.”
Bonita Vista, buoyed by seven seniors, will host fifth-seeded El Camino (12-6) in Friday’s quarterfinals at 6 p.m. after the Lady Wildcats eliminated 12th-seeded Grossmont (3-13) by a score of 15-3 in Tuesday’s opening round.
“Tenacity and work ethic,” BVHS coach Ahmad Rice said in regard to his team’s strengths. “We’re playing one game at a time. We’ll work on the skills we have and work on refining those skills — make crisper passes and crisper cuts.”
Eastlake hosted No. 11 El Capitan in Tuesday’s opening round while San Ysidro traveled to No. 5 Mission Hills on Wednesday.
Eastlake eliminated the Lady Vaqueros (11-6) by a score of 16-6 to advance to meet No. 3 Patrick Henry (12-6) in Friday’s quarterfinals at the Francis Parker School.
Top-seeded teams include Carlsbad (Division I), Rancho Bernardo (Division II) and Tri-City Christian (Division III).
Quarterfinal games are scheduled Friday, May 9, in Division II and Division III and Saturday, May 10, in Division I.
Semifinal elimination contests are slated Tuesday, May 13, in Division II and the Open Division and Wednesday, May 14, in Division I and Division III.
San Dieguito Academy will host the girls championship games. The Open Division final is slated Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. Three finals follow on Saturday, May 17: Division III at 11 a.m., Division II at 2 p.m. and Division I at 5 p.m.
The six Open Division teams include No. 1 Coronado (17-0), No. 2 Cathedral Catholic (14-5), No. 3 La Costa Canyon (10-6), No. 4 San Marcos (16-2), No. 5 Bishop’s (16-2) and No. 6 Torrey Pines (8-11). Semifinals are Tuesday, May 13.
Boys volleyball
Playoffs will be conducted in seven divisions: Open Division (eight), Division I (12 teams), Division II (12 teams), Division III (12 teams), Division IV (12 teams), Division V (12 teams) and Division V-AA (12 teams).
South County playoff qualifiers include Eastlake (No. 4 in Division I at 20-13), Bonita Vista (No. 9 in Division I at 16-14), Otay Ranch (No. 11 in Division I at 16-19), Mater Dei Catholic (No. 1 in Division III at 26-10), Sweetwater (No. 4 in Division III at 28-11), Montgomery (No. 12 in Division III at 14-18), Southwest (No. 8 in Division IV at 18-11), Victory Christian Academy (No. 10 in Division IV at 18-14), San Ysidro (No. 2 in Division V at 21-10), High Tech High Chula Vista (No. 5 in Division V at 16-14), San Diego Academy (No. 1 in Division V-AA at 18-5) and Chula Vista Learning Community Charter (No. 5 in Division V-AA at 10-10).
Eastlake claimed the Metro-Mesa League title with a 6-0 league record ahead of Bonita Vista. Mater Dei Catholic and Sweetwater shared the Metro-South Bay League championship with 7-1 league records while San Ysidro and Southwest shared the Metro-Pacific League banner with 5-1 league records.
Top-seeded teams include St. Augustine (Division (I), El Cajon Valley (Division II), Mater Dei Catholic (Division III), San Pasqual (Division IV), Monte Vista (Division V) and San Diego Academy (Division V-AA).
The playoff schedule is staggered at multiple locations.
Quarterfinals are Friday, May 9, in Division I, Division IV and Division V-AA while Division II, Division III and Division V get a head start on Thursday, May 8.
Semifinals are scheduled Tuesday, May 13, in Division III, Division V and Division V-AA and Wednesday, May 14, in Division I, Division II and Division IV.
Finals for Division V and Division V-AA are Thursday, May 15 at MiraCosta College.
Finals are Friday, May 16, for Division I and Division III at Mira Mesa High School and Saturday, May 17, at Francis Parker for Division II and Division IV.
The Open Division playoffs include a double-elimination format with the opening two rounds on May 6 and May 8. The eight-seeded teams include No. 1 Carlsbad (32-2), No. 2 Canyon Crest Academy (39-0), No. 3 Torrey Pines (31-7), No. 4 Francis Parker (22-10), No. 5 Bishop’s (24-9), No. 6 Classical Academy (23-12), No. 7 Cathedral Catholic (15-8) and No. 8 Granite Hills (15-10).Third-round games are scheduled Saturday, May 10, followed by fourth-round games on Tuesday, May 13, a fifth round (if necessary) on Thursday, May 15, and championship game May 17 at the Francis Parker School.
Boys tennis
Team playoffs took place April 29 to May 10 in four divisions: Open, Division I, Division II and Division III.
South County qualifiers included Mater Dei Catholic (No. 2 in Division II), Eastlake (No. 3 in Division II), Bonita Vista (No. 4 in Division II), Olympian (No. 6 in Division II), Otay Ranch (No. 12 in Division II), Hilltop (No. 2 in Division III), Castle Park (No. 10 in Division III) and San Ysidro (No. 15 in Division III).
A grand total of eight Metro Conference teams qualified, including five in Division II and three in Division III.
Top-seeded teams included Canyon Crest Academy (Open Division), Bishop’s (Division I), Valhalla (Division II) and Valley Center (Division III).
Of the eight South County qualifiers, five won their opening matches in an impressive showing to advance to the quarterfinals.
Mater Dei Catholic, the defending division champion, blasted 15th-seeded Santana by a score of 17-1 to open the four-round Division II tournament. Eastlake also handed 14th-seeded Calexico a lopsided loss while Olympian defeated 11th-seeded Mission Hills by a score of 12-6. Hilltop eliminated San Ysidro, 11-7, in an all-Metro matchup.
Another all-Metro pairing occurred in the next round as Eastlake sent Olympian home by a score of 12-6. Mater Dei Catholic joined the Titans in the semifinals with a 9-9 tiebreaker win over 10th-seeded Sage Creek. The Crusaders recorded a narrow 75-72 edge in total games to advance.
Hilltop advanced with a 12-6 win over seventh-seeded Mira Mesa while Bonita Vista lost a 9-9 tiebreaker to fifth-seeded La Costa Canyon (74-71 in games).
“It was intense,” Bonita Vista coach Liza Tacher said. “We have a solid team. I think the senior players got stronger making the team come together.”
No. 1 singles player Anthony Bernardo and No. 1 doubles tandem of Noah McMahan and Ari Broudy keyed the Barons’ fortunes this season. Other standouts included No. 2 singles Luka Licina and captains Adan Hurtado and Elijah Lee.
With three South County teams in the semifinals, something had to give.
Mater Dei Catholic got past Eastlake by a 13-5 score, but Hilltop saw its standout season end with an 11-7 setback to third-seeded Christian.
That left Mater Dei Catholic as the lone Metro team still standing in the championship round against top-seeded Valhalla. The Norsemen had placed runner-up to Sage Creek in the 2022 division finals, so both teams were battle-tested.
Valhalla won 10-8 in a marathon three-hour, 24-minute contest at the Lake Murray Tennis Club. It marked the first CIF title for the Norsemen in the program’s 50th season.
Aiden Toma, Isaiah Kasawa and Emilio Posadas each won two singles matches while the doubles team of Evan Bakayou and Gus Jacques won two of three sets.
Santiago Resendez swept all three of his singles matches for Mater Dei Catholic.
The Crusaders were without two players who left early to attend prom.
Valhalla, one of seven East County qualifiers, breezed through the opening two rounds with 13-5 wins over 16th-seeded West Hills (first round) and ninth-seeded High Tech High San Diego (quarterfinals). The Norsemen closed their history-making season with a pair of much closer 10-8 victories, defeating La Costa Canyon in the semifinals and MDC in the final.
Christian will meet top-seeded Valley Center in Saturday’s Division III championship round at the Balboa Tennis Club at noon.
