Rosary’s Success Unscheduled

Coaches don’t mind these types of problems.

Rosary didn’t anticipate advancing to Monday’s Division II final in the Dave Mohs Memorial tournament and had scheduled a match with La Canada the same day.

“Oh, we’re playing in the finals,” chuckled first-year Coach Wendy Herb-MacAskill. “We’ll try to reschedule with La Canada. I didn’t do the scheduling for this season.”

Former Coach Char Taguinod set up the schedule, but Herb-MacAskill wasn’t completely oblivious. She was a varsity assistant for the last two seasons under Taguinod and coached the junior varsity for the two previous seasons.

Herb-MacAskill pointed out that the Royals have never fared well at the tournament, which was previously called the Orange County Championships.

“We usually only made it to the first or second round in Division II,” said Herb-MacAskill, a Rosary graduate who went on to play volleyball at Colorado State.

But this veteran team bucked that trend. Seniors setter Jackie Schrader, opposite Beth Ludin, middle blocker Liz Murrieta and defensive specialist Andrea Lukas--who all played for Herb-MacAskill as freshmen--led the way.

Meet the undersized, overachieving Royals.

“I’m taller than everyone on our team,” said Herb-MacAskill, who at 5 feet 11 played middle blocker in high school and college. “They’re learning about not giving up on any play.

“Nothing is over until the ball hits the ground. That kind of play pays off eventually.”

MORE MOHS

The road to the Division I final in the Dave Mohs Memorial tournament featured another familiar matchup--top-ranked Newport Harbor vs. third-ranked Santa Margarita in the semifinals.

Newport Harbor prevailed again--the Sailors defeated the Eagles in a tournament final this summer in Hawaii--but Santa Margarita wasn’t at full strength.

Santa Margarita played without starting outside hitter Lauren Heri.

The 6-0 senior injured her shoulder last week and will be out at least a week, Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp said.

COMMITMENTS

Newport Harbor middle blocker Krista Dill, a 6-2 senior, has committed to play at Duke. Dill was an All-Sea View League selection last season.

Other county players making commitments: Mater Dei setter Jennifer Ward to Georgetown, Los Alamitos setter Stephanie Gamst to Sacramento State, Calvary Chapel middle blocker Christy Kimmel to Azusa Pacific and Santa Margarita’s Caroline Skacel to San Francisco.

SURF’S UP

Caroline Skacel’s older brother, Marcus, came out Saturday to cheer on his sister and the Eagles at the Dave Mohs Memorial tournament.

Marcus Skacel, The Times Orange County’s 1998 player of the year who led Santa Margarita to the section Division I championship, heads back to Stanford this week after he started for the Cardinal last season as a freshman.

And Skacel is enjoying more than just volleyball.

“Santa Cruz is only 45 minutes away from school,” Skacel said, “so I can still surf once a week.”

VOLLEYBALL SHORTS

Jennifer Carey led Newport Harbor to section and state titles last season, but this year she’s the starting setter at Hawaii.

Last week, Carey helped Hawaii end defending national champion Long Beach State’s 42-match winning streak. It was the third longest winning streak in NCAA women’s volleyball history.

Former Esperanza standout Jessica Sudduth had a team-high 19 kills in the four-game victory and middle blocker Jennifer Roberts, from Calvary Chapel, had eight kills for Hawaii.