Aggressive play nets St. Monica Academy come-from-behind win

WHITTIER – Through four rounds of the postseason, the St. Monica Academy girls’ volleyball team made a specialty of tipping, dumping and searching for corners all over the court.

This strategy led to extended rallies, errors from opponents and victories by the Crusaders.

That was until Saturday evening.

In the first two sets of the CIF Southern Section Division V-A championship match at Rio Hondo College, the International League champion Crusaders saw this cautious and productive approach fail in the face off attacking Irvine Tarbut V’ Torah.

The top-seeded Lions (25-2) raced out to a 25-16, 25-21 lead behind the strong front-court play of 5-foot-11 outside hitter Lauren Cohen and opposite hitter Racheal Aronoff.

Both girls had combined for 10 kills through the first two sets and smacked St. Monica’s soft attack back over the side of the net with delight, which led to some quick, but deep reflection after the end of the second set.

In comparison, no St. Monica player had more than four kills through the first two sets.

“I was having a terrible game and we weren’t playing as aggressive as we should have,” said St. Monica senior outside hitter Therese Boles, who finished with eight kills and 26 digs. “We were too hesitant and [Tarbut] was making all the plays. That’s when we decided we had to attack and take the fight to them.”

While the third-seeded Crusaders (24-3-2) continued to tip on defense, they didn’t tip-toe anymore on offense.

Instead, the squad went after Tarbut, thanks in part to the passing of setter Molly Hagan and the clutch play of Sophia Vega, a senior middle blocker.

Vega tallied four kills against Avalon in a 3-0 victory in Tuesday’s road semifinal. In the entire four-round postseason, Vega tallied 14 kills.

On Saturday, the senior led her team with 13 kills.

“It was the sets, they were perfect for me,” Vega said of Hagan’s passing. “After we went down, 2-0, we got together as a team and said we had to focus on offense. We couldn’t be intimidated, we couldn’t be scared.”

Suddenly on the offensive, momentum began to shift for the Crusaders and a team struggling to find a single standout quickly had contributions for all over.

Vega and Boles tallied four kills in the third set, an impressive 25-13 win, while Rose Goodwin totaled three kills in a fourth-set 25-17 triumph that ended on a kill from Hagan (26 assists). Michelle Hall also added an ace and a kill in the fourth set.

“That’s what I love about this team, we’re more than one player,” Boles said. “When one of us is down, someone else fills in. Yes, it took a lot longer than we would have liked, but we did it.”

In a fifth set filled with more nervous errors than key kills, St. Monica received front-row kills from Vega and Boles, a block from Goodwin and an ace from libero Yamila Evans.

While the score went back and forth, it was top-seeded Tarbut which burned two timeouts and tightened up late.

A squad that had seemed so relaxed sitting back and waiting for St. Monica’s finesse offense to try to find holes was now on its toes at the front of the net nervous and committing errors.

With momentum, the Crusaders closed out the school’s first-ever championship on a kill from Vega that delivered a come-from-behind 16-25, 21,25, 25-13, 25-17, 15-11 victory.

“We changed up after those first two sets,” Crusaders Coach Darren Bradley said. “We simplified our approach and just went after Tarbut. Hey listen, Tarbut is an amazing team and we were only going to beat them going out and matching their effort. We were more aggressive on offense and I think that changed everything for us.”