Woiemberghe Sisters Help Cypress Rally to Defeat Foothill

A couple of sisters hoisted the Cypress girls’ volleyball team on their backs and carried it back from the brink of elimination in the second round of the Southern Section Division II-A tournament Thursday at Cypress.

Michelle Woiemberghe had a school-record 30 kills on sets from her younger sister, Laura, to lead Cypress to a 9-15, 11-15, 15-8, 17-15, 15-9 victory over Foothill.

“We were just saying, ‘This is not going to be our last match,’ ” said Michelle, a senior.

But it almost was.

Foothill had a match-point opportunity in the fourth game, leading, 14-13, but Stacy Silva came up with a kill for Cypress to end the threat.

Silva then served an ace to tie it and Amber Olson and Courtney Castellaw combined on a block to take a 15-14 lead.

Danielle Bauer had a block to get the ball back for Foothill before her sister, Lauren, tapped the ball around a Centurion block for another point to tie it, 15-15.

But Dusty Craeger had a kill for a sideout and then served an ace to bring up game point for Cypress and Michelle Woiemberghe won it with a kill to force the fifth game.

“It just came down to a couple plays in the fourth game,” Foothill Coach Pat Manning said. “If we were going to win, we were going to win in that game. I give them credit, they didn’t fold being down, 2-0.”

Foothill jumped to a 3-1 lead in the fifth game but Cypress went on a 13-0 run to put the game out of reach. The Centurions stalled with match point on the line before winning it after the Knights were called for a net violation.

“We got pumped up and the crowd was behind us and we just started getting excited,” said Laura Woiemberghe, a junior.

Craeger had 15 kills for Cypress (14-1) and Danielle Bauer led Foothill (11-4) with 18 kills.