GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : La Jolla Stumbles Just Once On Way to Title

The sputter didn’t last long.

In fact, the San Diego Section Divison III girls’ volleyball final, ignoring an odd third game, hummed along so well for La Jolla that it washed away six years of coming up second best.

Going into Thursday night’s title match at Rancho Bernardo High, USDHS brought with it one of the more remarkable strings in San Diego high school history. The Dons had won six CIF banners in a row, and each time they took a Viking ship down to do it.

But this 1992 Viking vessel had a different idea.

La Jolla won its first title since it won four consecutive titles from 1982-85, with a 15-5, 15-5, 0-15, 15-5 victory over the Dons.

Overseeing La Jolla’s efforts through it all has been Vicki Eveleth. Her USDHS counterpart is Rob Gorney. They expressed mixed feelings as the rivalry, and the streak, switched gears.

“All good parties come to an end,” Gorney said with a smile. “It was a phenomenal thing while it lasted.”

Eveleth, relieved to be back in the winner’s circle, feels now that La Jolla has the gorilla off its back, it can meet USDHS on more even ground in the future.

“We’ve had good teams in the past,” Eveleth said. “But they were more mentally tough this year. I think we’ll be able to start on equal ground next year.”

Thursday’s match was unbalanced all night. Besides a third-game resurrection by the Dons, this contest belonged to the Vikings completely.

“You have to give them credit,” Gorney said. “That La Jolla team has a lot of talent.”

Players and coach agreed that this was typical of matches La Jolla has played all year long. But about that 10-minute third game.

USDHS’ Amy O’Neill served 13 points in a row before La Jolla’s Julia Civardi came up with a cross-court kill to give the Vikings their only side-out of the game. USDHS finished up the game on three La Jolla errors.

“That was our ‘oh, oops’ game,” said junior Stephanie Edwards.

But it was a rare mental mistake on the part of the Vikings, who Evelth said have gotten more and more mentally tough as the season progressed.

“We used to be like a wave, going back and forth mentally,” she said. “We finally got to a point where it was more like a straight line.”

Senior Middle blocker Jenny Weinbrecht said the victory was all the sweeter as it was against La Jolla’s archrival.

“It wouldn’t have been as great if it was against anyone else,” she said. “Doing it against Uni means everything.”

Division IV

Holtville avenged last year’s loss to Clairemont with a victory earlier in the evening. Holtville took the title match, 15-11, 15-6, 16-14. Maritza Morales led Holtville with 12 kills. Teammates Kathy Ibarra and Kim Ward added nine and eight each, respectively.