El Toro’s New Plans Include a Trip to Final

El Toro girls’ volleyball coach Mike Jagd thought he would be sitting on the beach Saturday after watching St. Joseph rack up points in the first game Thursday night.

But Jagd will gladly change his plans because the Chargers are headed to Saturday’s Division 5-A final after rallying for a 3-15, 15-8, 19-17, 15-6 victory over the top-seeded Jesters at Capistrano Valley High School.

El Toro (18-3), which lost to St. Joseph in a tournament this season, will face Laguna Beach, which defeated Capistrano Valley in four games Thursday, at 8:15 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College.

The Chargers weren’t looking past Thursday after watching St. Joseph (17-1) score the match’s first eight points.

Jaimie Torromeo scored the final three points of the first game for St. Joseph, and had 11 kills in St. Joseph’s 15-3 victory. Torromeo finished the match with 26 kills, and teammate Erin Balderama had 18.

But while St. Joseph boasted the two biggest hitters in the match, El Toro’s setter Lesli Steinert keyed the El Toro rally by running a balanced offense. Steinert finished with 40 assists, and had only four in the first game.

“Lesli brought us back,” Jagd said. “I’ve been telling everybody what makes her special; she just refuses to lose. She’s part drill sergeant, floor general and pit bull.”

The Chargers’ attack featured Kira Kneitel (14 kills), Jamie Smith (11 kills) and junior middle blockers Amanda Burrows and Amber Woodcock.

“Amanda lost her starting spot about four matches ago,” Jagd said. “But she won that last game for us. Our bench just did a tremendous job for us tonight.”