St. Margaret’s Dream Gets a Rude Awakening From Cate

St. Margaret’s joy ride through the Southern Section Small Schools girls’ volleyball playoffs came to an abrupt halt Saturday afternoon.

Second-seeded Carpinteria Cate capitalized on 16 hitting errors and 12 service errors committed by unseeded St. Margaret’s for a 15-5, 15-5, 15-8 victory in the championship game at Cerritos College.

Kim Balfour had 13 kills and Laura Clark added 11 as Cate (15-5) won its first section title in any girls’ sport.

St. Margaret’s (20-2), struggled with nerves in its first appearance in a Southern Section final in any girls’ team sport.

St. Margaret’s Coach Vickie Gentry said her players were flat coming off a five-game upset of top-seeded Mammoth in Thursday’s semifinals.

“We were a little emotionally flat after the Mammoth match,” she said. “We weren’t the same team that beat Mammoth the other night.

“I don’t like to lose the way we did today, but I think it was a learning experience.”

Cate, which lost in last year’s final to Mammoth, kept St. Margaret’s off-balance with its serving. Cate had 11 aces to St. Margaret’s two. St. Margaret’s had five service errors in each of the first two games.

“We served very tough today,” Cate Coach Tina Roberts said. “We did such a good job, that we never had a chance to show everything we have.”

St. Margaret’s poor passing shut down its offense. The Tartans’ leading hitter, junior Susie Teitsworth, finished with only seven kills.

“When you can’t pass and serve, you can’t hit,” Gentry said. “And we didn’t do much hitting.”

Although the Tartans lost, Gentry expects they will earn a State playoff berth when pairings are announced today.

But the thought of a State berth was little comfort for St. Margaret’s setter Hilary Albers.

“I never thought I would get this far in any sport,” Albers said. “Girls’ sports are looked down on at our school. This is the biggest thing we’ve ever done in girls’ sports and I’m just glad to be a part of it.”