Santa Margarita Rallies, Beats Westlake in Five Games

They looked like girls screaming at the ocean.

And Saturday in the Southern Section Division II-A final at Cypress College, the ocean subsided beneath the desire of the Santa Margarita girls’ volleyball team.

Santa Margarita defeated top-seeded Westlake Village Westlake, 8-15, 14-16, 17-15, 15-9, 15-8, to win the school’s first Southern Section girls’ volleyball title.

The Eagles (14-5) were led by Kiki Maroutsos, who had 25 kills, and Shannon Redfern, who had 20.

“Both of us were good teams and it was going to come down to who wanted it more. It just looked like we wanted it so much more than them,” the Eagles’ Sabrina King said.

Westlake (19-3) began to crumble after Santa Margarita won the third game.

The Eagles led, 14-11, but Jamie Ghattas had a kill to squander San Margarita’s first game-point attempt and the Warriors used strong blocking to come back and tie it, 14-14.

The Eagles lost one more game-point attempt and the Warriors tied it, 15-15. Maroutsos had a kill to bring up a third game-point attempt and this time, Linda McCullaugh won it with a kill.

“The third game just gave us momentum,” Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp said. “Everyone who needed to step it up did.”

The Eagles jumped to a 13-3 lead in the fourth game. The Warriors worked their way back, 13-9, but King had a kill to bring up game point and Maroutsos won it with an ace.

Westlake took a 4-0 lead in the fifth game but Santa Margarita tied it, 7-7, then went on a 6-0 run to put it out of reach. Westlake scored one more point on a block before Santa Margarita won it on two Warrior hitting errors.

“[Santa Margarita] has a lot of seniors on their team and I think they play with their hearts,” Westlake Coach Chris Rundle said. “[Westlake] has gotten a lot of notoriety, a lot of press, and now they know that they have to keep earning it every step of the way.”

Westlake was led by Courtney Miller, who had 28 kills, Heather Hutchison, who had 16, and Leigh O’Neill, who had 15.

It was Santa Margarita’s first appearance in a Southern Section final and it is Rapp’s second year at the school.

“I think we got the jitters taken care of [after losing the first two games],” Rapp said. “The girls showed a lot of character.”