Southern California Christian Easily Wins Division III Title

After the Southern California Christian High School girls’ volleyball team got its passing game in order, the Flames had little trouble winning the state final Saturday afternoon in the Golden West College gym.

The Flames defeated Calaveras High School of San Andreas in four games, 15-7, 15-8, 4-15, 15-8, to complete an undefeated season (22-0) and win the Division III title.

Earlier this season, the Flames won the Southern Section 1-A championship.

Though Southern California Christian won the first two games, it had to come from behind each time after poor passing had allowed the Redskins (15-2) to take early leads in each.

In the second game, the Flames fell behind, 8-4, but went on to win, 15-8. The last six points came on serves from Debbie Dunigan, a 5-foot senior.

But the passing problem showed up again in the third game, when the Flames could not get the ball set in postion for spikes and fell behind, 10-1, before finally losing, 15-4. The Redskins’ Laura Taylor had four service aces among the eight straight points she scored on the service line.

The passing problems were solved in the final game of the match, when Southern California Christian seniors Tara Cross and Cinnamon Williams took control. Williams had 9 kills and 23 assists in the match, all of which went to Cross, who had 23 kills. Cross added nine assists.

Both were named to the all-tournament team, along with Dunigan.

“When we got back to our passing game,” Ed Gover, SCC coach said, “Everything was back to normal and we were fine.”

Last year, the Flames lost to St. Helena in the state final.

“Last year our goal was to win CIF and we did that,” Williams said. “This (state championship) was our goal this year, and we worked hard to get it.”

Helping Williams get the work done was Cross, a 6-foot transfer from Gahr where she was on the runner-up team in last year’s Division I state final.

“It was about the same as last year,” Cross said, “only we (SCC) had an easier time in the finals.