Laguna Beach Overcomes Its Injuries, Wins : 5-A volleyball: Despite numerous aches and pains, the Artists beat Capistrano Valley in four games to advance to final.

Laguna Beach setter Shauna Shapiro went home Thursday night with 43 assists, a swollen right wrist, a bloody nose and a trip to the Southern Section 5-A volleyball finals.

Unseeded Laguna Beach, slowed by so many injuries that the Artists canceled Wednesday’s practice, survived Thursday night with an 11-15, 15-4, 15-3, 15-7 semifinal victory over third-seeded Capistrano Valley at Dana Hills High School.

Rachel Wacholder had 21 kills as the Artists (21-2) advanced to the finals for the first time since 1980. They will meet El Toro in the championship game at 8:15 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College. El Toro beat Lakewood St. Joseph, 3-1.

Wacholder and Shapiro were two of five Laguna Beach starters nursing injuries.

Shapiro injured her wrist and jammed her finger in a quarterfinal victory over Mater Dei, then got a bloody nose when she was hit in the face by an Allyson Carpenter spike.

Wacholder and Tori Scott (11 kills) were nursing shoulder injuries, Hillary Kyle a sore back and Jessica Wallace a sore knee.

“All we did in practice yesterday was watch videotape,” Laguna Beach Coach Michael Soylular said. “We couldn’t even practice, we had so many injuries.”

After rolling to a victory in the first game, Capistrano Valley (21-5) hurt itself with hitting errors. The Cougars had only two errors in the first game, but 21 for the match.

The Cougars struggled with Laguna Beach’s serving the entire match. Wacholder and Scott each had three aces for Laguna Beach.

“Our key was the serving,” Soylular said. “We knew after the first game that we were in trouble.”

It was Laguna Beach’s second victory over Capistrano Valley this season. The Artists swept the Cougars in the Orange County Championship final in September, when the Cougars’ Tobi Roquemore was sidelined with an ankle injury.

But Roquemore was back Thursday--and was a big factor early in the match.

She and Carpenter each had seven kills in the first game as Capistrano Valley pulled away from a 7-7 tie with a 7-1 run. Laguna Beach fought off four game points and cut the deficit to 14-11, but Carpenter, who finished with a team-high 18 kills, ended the game with a block.

Laguna Beach came back in the second game, building a 9-2 lead behind four kills, a block and an ace by Wacholder. Capistrano Valley struggled the entire game, finishing with 10 hitting errors in the 15-4 loss.

“We stopped executing after the first game,” Capistrano Valley Coach John Gipe said. “Laguna was flawless, and you can’t make mistakes against them.”