St. Margaret’s Rallies to Win Its First Title

There were plenty of ups and downs for St. Margaret’s in its Southern Section Division V-AA girls’ volleyball championship match with Palos Verdes Chadwick Friday at Cypress College.

But fortunately for the Tartans, things finished on an up note and they walked away with their first section title, posting a 14-16, 15-11, 6-15, 15-9, 15-10 victory.

Senior Allison Bendush served an ace on match point and finished with a 25 kills and 15 digs to help St. Margaret’s close out Game 5.

But it was far from a one-player show.

St. Margaret’s turned things around in Game 2 after their passing improved a little and setter Marissa Balak, who finished with 60 assists, found it easier to connect with middle blockers Monique Kettler and Kylie Hill.

Kettler had nine of her 22 kills in the second game and five in the fourth game to help the Tartans force a fifth game. Hill finished with 12 kills and a team-high four blocks.

Things looked bleak after St. Margaret’s fell behind, 13-3, in Game 3 and Chadwick appeared to take all the momentum, but Tartan Coach Susie Maga didn’t call any timeouts.

Chadwick’s Jana Freeman, who had 14 kills, served two aces to close out the game and give the Dolphins a two-games-to-one advantage.

“I’ve found with this team,” Maga said, “that sometimes the best thing is for me to sit back and not yell at them. We have to weather the storm.”

Said Bendush: “We were pretty confident that we were not going to lose this match. We were too close. This was our last chance in high school and we were not going to accept losing.”

Top-seeded St. Margaret’s (19-1) struggled against a balanced attack from second-seeded Chadwick (17-2), and the Tartans especially couldn’t find an answer for Dolphin junior outside hitter, Kirstin Ericson, who finished with 17 kills.

But when Kettler and Hill began pounding away in the middle, the Tartans found some life. A fast start in Game 4 gave them a 10-5 lead and eventually, a kill from Kettler and an ace by Hill gave St. Margaret’s the game.