Fountain Valley Focused, Sweeps Past Irvine

Top-seeded Fountain Valley had waited all season for this, so it wasn’t a big surprise that the Barons were focused as they cruised into the Southern Section Division I-A girls’ volleyball finals with a convincing semifinal victory over Irvine.

Senior Larissa Carter had 19 kills and senior Summer Altice added 13 for the Barons, who advanced with a 15-3, 15-13, 15-7 victory Tuesday at Irvine High.

Fountain Valley will meet second-seeded Capistrano Valley in Saturday’s final at Cypress College. It will be a rematch of their Sept. 12 meeting, which Fountain Valley won, 15-11, 15-10, 14-16, 15-7.

“Our three seniors all made it to the finals as freshmen,” Fountain Valley Coach Lori Biller said. “They remember what it felt like to get that second-place medal, so they wanted to get back there.”

Los Alamitos defeated Fountain Valley in the 1993 Division II final, 15-6, 4-15, 15-13, 15-12. The Barons (17-2) got their best chance to return to a section final Tuesday and they took advantage of it, carving up the Vaqueros (12-7).

Although Fountain Valley routed Irvine in Game 1, with U.S. Olympian and former Irvine High standout Elaina Oden watching, the Vaqueros made Game 2 interesting.

Irvine was sharper in Game 2, and Kelly Webb, who had a team-high seven kills and 10 digs, helped the Vaqueros take the lead, 12-6.

“When we’re passing halfway decent, we can side out,” Irvine Coach Mark Mednick said. “We did that in Game 2. But for the most part, we didn’t pass well and couldn’t get our middle [attack] on track.”

Carter led Fountain Valley’s rally and had 10 kills in Game 2. She had three consecutive kills to help Fountain Valley close within 12-11.

After an Irvine net violation and an Altice kill, Altice jump served for her third of four aces to make it, 14-12. Irvine stubbornly fought off four game points before Altice spiked through a block attempt to give the Barons the game.

That loss deflated Irvine, and Fountain Valley scored the first six points in Game 3. Junior Melissa Plass had two aces to help the Barons take the lead, 10-2. Leading, 14-7, Altice closed out the match with consecutive kills for a side out and match point.