No. 1 Mira Costa Spikers Coast Past Montgomery

Mira Costa High advanced to the second round of the CIF Southern Section 5-A girls volleyball playoffs Thursday by beating Bishop Montgomery, 15-4, 15-2, 15-6, at Mira Costa.

Mira Costa, the No. 1 seed in the playoffs and the top-ranked team in the country, improved its record to 20-0. Bishop Montgomery ended the season at 10-6.

Kristal Attwood led Mira Costa with eight kills. She said she and the other Mustangs are still improving. “We’re getting our timing back,” said Attwood, who missed matches in the middle of the season with an ankle injury. “We’re getting better.”

Bishop Montgomery would have a hard time believing that. The Knights kept the first game close for a while, tying the score at 4-4 on a spike by Kate Callahan. But then it was all Mira Costa as the Mustangs reeled off 11 unanswered points and won the game.

“We were doing OK at the beginning, but then we got five bad calls by the referee and our girls got intimidated,” Bishop Montgomery Coach Kim Willeman said. “That wasn’t the Bishop Montgomery team.”

Bishop Montgomery was unable to score in the second game until the score was 11-0, and then both its points came on Mira Costa mistakes.

“I think we were a little surprised to see the ball come back a few times,” Mira Costa Coach Dae Lea Aldrich said. “But then, as soon as we got going, the girls knew it was no problem.”

Piper Hahn had 18 assists and four kills for Mira Costa, Corie Davis had four service aces, and Heidi Eick had six blocks and five kills.

Mira Costa will play the winner of the Dos Pueblos-Newport Harbor game at a site to be determined.