HIGH SCHOOL PLAYOFF ROUNDUP : Torrey Pines’ Rally Ruins Helix’s Perfect Season

It was a bad night Thursday for fingernails.

Torrey Pines, seeded second and ranked third in the state, came from two games down to defeat top-seeded Helix in five games, 17-19, 8-15, 15-13, 15-3, 15-12, to win the San Diego Section Division II girls’ volleyball championship.

The 1,500 fans at Mira Mesa High School watched Torrey Pines come from a 12-2 deficit in Game 5. Helix entered the game with a 31-0 record and the most consecutive victories by any 3-A school in section history.

Torrey Pines (28-2) will play Division I champion Poway at 5 p.m. Saturday at Grossmont College. At stake is the automatic berth in the state tournament.

Poway won its third consecutive title and fifth in six years by defeating Mt. Carmel, 15-10, 15-11, 15-6. Poway was led by Heather Collins (10 kills, six blocks), Amy Burke (six kills, six blocks), and freshman Kara Milling (eight kills).

Helix had beaten Torrey Pines this season but faltered after two games Thursday.

“They backed off and we capitalized,” said Falcon senior Christy Peters, who combined with her sister, Amy, for 41 kills. “When it got to be 12-8, I knew we had them in a crunch.”

Karrie Downey had 24 kills for Helix.

Helix, which led the first game 12-2 before prevailing 19-17, held other big leads and let Torrey Pines battle back. Most notably, the Highlanders were serving at 13-11 in Game 3 before letting that game slip away.

In Game 5, the Falcons scored 11 unanswered points to take a 13-12 lead. In doing so, Helix committed three net violations, were called twice for hitting the ball four times, twice hit the ball into the net, and twice were unable to return the ball.