Valley Christian Advances to Final

Cerritos Valley Christian advanced to the state Division IV girls’ volleyball finals with a 15-10, 15-3, 15-3 victory over Calvary Chapel on Tuesday night at Valley Christian.

This was the third meeting between the Olympic League teams this season, with Valley Christian winning both previous matches.

The Crusaders (32-0) used a balanced attack to keep the Eagles on their heels. Stacy Rouwenhorst had a match-high 17 kills, and Jennifer Fopma and Sarah Boogaard each had 12. Emma Howell had 32 assists for Valley Christian.

“We came in confident and were able to adjust when we needed,” Valley Christian Coach Gladys Rouwenhorst said.

“They were watching our middles, but we attacked from everywhere.”

Calvary Chapel (17-4) took a 4-2 lead in the first game, but that was the last time the Eagles led.

“We’re just young,” Calvary Chapel Coach Jim Downey said, “and they were physically a lot better team.”

Calvary Chapel started four juniors, including Kelly Overby and Jessie Wright, who led the team with seven kills and 19 assists, respectively.

The first game was close early, but Valley Christian pulled away behind eight kills by Rouwenhorst and 15 assists by Howell to win, 15-10. Wright had 11 assists for Calvary Chapel in the game.

Rouwenhorst and Howell led the Crusaders again in the second game with seven kills and 11 assists. Fopma had four of her match-high six blocks.

In the third game, Fopma had five kills and Boogaard had two of her match-high three aces. The Eagles were held to six kills, four by Overby.

“We played really, really well,” Howell said. “We brought up our level of play tonight.”

With the victory, Valley Christian is set to play the Northern California champion Saturday morning at Cypress College.

Rouwenhorst says the team is ready for the finals. “We know we can dominate if we play our game. We are very confident for Saturday.”