Santa Margarita Returns to State Final

After being denied in the previous two state championship matches, the Santa Margarita girls’ volleyball team will get its third consecutive shot at the state title, thanks to a 15-10, 11-15, 15-6, 15-5 Division II semifinal victory over visiting Lakewood St. Joseph Tuesday night.

The Eagles (27-7), the Southern Regional champions, will face the Northern Region representative, Mountain View St. Francis, Saturday at Cypress College. And they’re certainly not looking for history to repeat itself.

“We’re going to win this time, I know it,” said Eagle senior middle blocker Monique Gerlach, who had a match-high 25 kills.

Without question the Jesters (29-7) proved to be the toughest of the Eagles’ three state playoff opponents thus far. Not only did St. Joseph’s bring seven noisy busloads of fans to the Eagle gym, they won a game from Eagles, the first game Santa Margarita has lost in the playoffs.

After dropping the second game, the Eagles got their passing game back in order in Game 3, which was tied at 2-2 for close to 20 minutes. The Eagles finally pulled away after capitalizing on several scoring rallies and Jester mistakes.

Kills by Caroline Skacel and Michelle Davis gave the Eagles an early Game 4 lead that they wouldn’t let go.

“They’ve gotten to the point to where they really want to get it,” Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp said. “Now the ball is in their court.”

Skacel had 15 kills and 17 digs and Davis added 18 kills for the Eagles.

Melissa Villaromen led the Jesters with 19 kills.

“It’s time to finish off the deal,” said Santa Margarita senior setter Anna Mosich, who had 45 assists.