La Habra Advances to Title Match

This one lacked a miracle comeback and a pressure-packed fifth game, but La Habra still defeated Lakewood St. Joseph, 15-11, 15-8, 15-17, 15-6, in the state Division II girls’ volleyball semifinals Tuesday before an overflow crowd of 1,600 La Habra High.

Keao Burdine, the Highlanders’ outside hitter who is headed to USC, had 19 kills and 17 digs and Kristina Baum had 18 kills and six blocks to help La Habra (23-2), ranked third in the state Division II poll, advance to its first state final since 1991. Second-ranked St. Joseph ended 24-5.

La Habra will play top-ranked Mountain View St. Francis in the championship match at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cypress College.

“We’re peaking at the right time,” La Habra Coach Troy Abbey said.

La Habra’s run started with its improbable rally from a two-games-to-none deficit to St. Joseph in the Southern Section Division II-A championship match. The Highlanders eventually beat the Jesters for the title in a wild fifth game, 17-15.

“We said that we’re not even losing the first two games this time,” said Baum, a 6-foot-2 sophomore who hit .548 in Tuesday’s match. “We were really psyched. This team has upped its level. We keep getting better and better.”

The Highlanders followed their section-title winning match over St. Joseph by opening the state tournament with a convincing three-game victory over San Diego Point Loma. Then, La Habra posted a four-game victory on the road over six-time Central Section champion Bakersfield Centennial in the second round Saturday.

Said Abbey: “We’re playing our best volleyball right now.”

One of the reasons is balance.

Tuesday, Lauren Goins, a senior outside hitter, had her best match of the state tournament, finishing with 15 kills and three blocks to give junior setter Maggie Williams (47 assists, 12 digs) another potent weapon.

La Habra won the first game after St. Joseph scored eight consecutive points to pull ahead, 11-10. The Highlanders won the final five points, capitalizing on three hitting and one setting error by the Jesters to escape with a 15-11 win, although Burdine struggled and had only one kill and four hitting errors in the game.

Burdine found the range in the second game. She hit .484 over the final three games of the match and had seven kills in the second game as the Highlanders took control with a 15-8 victory.

St. Joseph fought off one match point in the third game, with Colorado State-bound Melissa Courtney, who had 15 kills, 30 assists and 13 digs, and Jennifer Daniels, who had 16 kills, helping the Jesters scrap for a 17-15 win.

“After we won that second game,” Abbey said, “I told the girls to remember that we’ve come back from that before, so we’ve got to try and win this one in three.

“We lost it 17-15, but we stuck to it in the fourth game. We didn’t lose our composure.”

Instead, St. Joseph did. The normally fluid passing Jesters lost their touch and a 3-0 lead as Goins served for 13 consecutive points.