Southern Section Girls’ Volleyball Championships : El Modena Moves to Center Court, Hopes to Upset Sunny Hills in Final

The El Modena High School girls’ volleyball team entered this year’s Southern Section 3-A playoffs as the third representative from the Century League, with little chance of making any kind of splash.

Well grab a towel because El Modena, which has never made it past the second round, plays No. 1-seeded Sunny Hills in the 3-A final today at 3:30 p.m. at Marina High.

The Vanguards got there by defeating 10th-seeded Garden Grove, third-seeded La Habra, fifth-seeded Calabasas and, Thursday, second-seeded Los Altos.

El Modena has been a severe underdog in each match and yet has won each one rather handily, 3 games to 1.

“It’s been quite a run,” said Craig Tefertiller, El Modena coach. “Right now, I’m feeling pretty good.”

That could change drastically when Tefertiller’s team takes the court against a Sunny Hills team that has swept through the playoffs without losing a game.

Witness Sunny Hills’ semifinal match against Villa Park, the team El Modena tied for second in the Century League. Sunny Hills took the match, 15-1, 15-5, 15-9, led by 6-foot 2-inch Marissa Hatchett, who had 22 kills and 6 blocks.

Hatchett is generally regarded as the nation’s No. 2 college recruit behind Bev Oden of Irvine.

“She’s the kind of player who can, it seems, anytime she wants to, just dominate a match,” Tefertiller said. “Hopefully, we can get up (at the net) on every ball she hits. And those we don’t get there, hopefully we can scramble to dig.”

The El Modena playoff scramble basically started before the playoffs, in the last week of the regular season. After struggling in five games to beat Santa Ana Valley, a team that didn’t make the playoffs, El Modena came back in the last match of the regular season to sweep Villa Park.

“Right then, I had a pretty good idea we were starting to peak,” Tefertiller said.

Irvine and Mira Costa high schools have been peaking all season it seems, and are a combined 39-0. The teams, which have not met this season, play in the 5-A final at 8:15 tonight at Marina.

Irvine (17-0) struggled against Laguna Beach in the semifinals until its size and power took over in the fifth and deciding game. The 6-2 Oden, 6-1 Sara Lockemy and 5-11 Melinda Norton combined for 12 kills in that game. Oden had 26 kills in the match.

Mira Costa (22-0), seeded third, had a relatively easier time defeating second-seeded Santa Barbara, 11-15, 15-12, 15-12, 15-2.