Coach Can Hardly Watch as Cypress Beats Foothill

Although Foothill valiantly rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to force a fifth game, Cypress finally put a cruel end to the Knights’ season.

“I had my eyes closed most of the time in the fifth game,” Cypress Coach Jerry Gregg said. “It was a nightmare.”

The nightmarish finish came for Foothill, which fell in the fifth game, 18-16, in Thursday’s match at Cypress High.

Dusty Creager had 25 kills and Courtney Castellaw’s spike at match point ended the Centurions’ victory, 15-6, 15-13, 8-15, 7-15, 18-16.

Cypress (14-2) advanced to play top-seeded Santa Margarita in the quarterfinals Saturday. Foothill ends its season 12-5.

It was the second consecutive season that Cypress had eliminated Foothill in a five-game match in the second round of the playoffs. Cypress almost didn’t make it to the next round and fought off five match points in the fifth game.

Castellaw, who had six of her 16 kills in the fifth game, erased three match points with kills from the left side. And trailing, 16-15, Creager’s off-speed shot for a kill erased another match point and she followed it with a block to pull the Centurions even, 16-16.

Becky Guess blocked Foothill’s Becky Radomsky (27 kills, 24 digs) for only the second time in the match to make it, 17-16. After a Foothill side out and service error, Castellaw spiked for a kill from the left side to end it.