Sacred Heart Serves Up a State Playoff Victory

Hello, jump serve. Goodbye, El Cajon Christian.

With its tough defense present and accounted for, Flintridge Sacred Heart added another dimension and dropped the Patriots in the first round of the State Division IV girls’ volleyball playoffs, 15-3, 15-2, 15-13, on Tuesday in a match that lasted 63 minutes.

Which is about the same number, in miles per hour, that the jump serves of Danielle Dal Ponte and Audra Grim flew around the gymnasium at St. Francis High.

The Tologs served Christian off the court and in the process, created a little history, advancing past the opening round of the State tournament for the first time in three appearances, the last one coming in 1987.

The third-seeded Tologs (16-4) finished with 14 aces--three from Dal Ponte, two from Grim and four from Catherine Smith--while the unseeded Patriots (19-10) totaled three.

Dal Ponte and Grim wowed the crowd with the velocity of their serves.

Even their coach, Nancy Young, was impressed.

“One day, they just came in to practice with those serves and I was like, ‘Whoa, go with it,’ ” Young said.

The month of November keeps going for Sacred Heart, which captured the Southern Section Division IV-AA title last Saturday and plays in the quarterfinals of the State tournament Saturday. The Tologs will be on the road against Bakersfield Garces, which defeated Marlborough, 14-16, 15-6, 16-18, 15-11, 15-10.

Not even a location change messed up the Tologs on Tuesday.

They were forced to leave the cozy confines of their gymnasium, which was deemed too small to host a State tournament match, so it was off to St. Francis, which is bigger, but not a big adjustment.

The Tologs practiced there twice last week because the school play, Antigone, was being held in their gymnasium.

The match against El Cajon Christian could have been played in somebody’s backyard. It wouldn’t have mattered.

Despite an obvious difference in size, the Tologs, who are used to being on the short end of the height stick, dominated from the start and served seven aces in the first game.

Sacred Heart also frustrated the Patriots by digging up almost everything and wiping out any advantage the Patriots could have had with 6-foot-3 Alyssa Frederick, who will play basketball for San Diego State next year.

Smaller, but scrappier, the Tologs remained alive.

“We’re not expected to be here,” said Dal Ponte, who added eight kills for Flintridge Sacred Heart. “We’re the underdog. We have nothing to lose.”

And if they keep winning?

“It has never happened before, so we’ll have to see,” Dal Ponte added. “I think everybody will just go crazy.”

Grim had 10 kills and Holly Doran added 11 for the Tologs.

Harvard-Westlake d. Exeter, 15-3, 15-2, 15-3--The defending state champion Wolverines (20-1) made short work of Exeter in the opening round of the State Division III playoffs at Harvard-Westalke.

Malaika Naulls had six kills, six blocks and two aces for the Wolverines. Anne Jakle added six kills and Christine Bohle had five kills.

Central Valley Christian d. Cornerstone Christian, 15-12, 15-10, 15-9--Julia Tamai had 17 kills and 11 assists, and Julie Siefert had 12 kills and 18 assists in a losing effort for Cornerstone Christian in a Division V first-round match at Visalia.

Westlake d. Bakersfield Stockdale, 13-15, 15-11, 15-7, 15-13--Courtney Miller had 17 assists as the Warriors (17-3) advanced in a State Division II match at Bakersfield.