Mater Dei Gets Past Mira Costa

Mallorie Croal said she entered the gymnasium at Santa Ana Mater Dei High on Tuesday night with one thought on her mind: revenge.

A junior outside hitter for the girls’ volleyball team, Croal remembers two seasons ago when Manhattan Beach Mira Costa marched into that tiny facility and denied Mater Dei a shot at playing in its first state championship.

Not this time. Croal posted a match-high 29 kills and Mater Dei took a 25-22, 30-32, 29-27, 25-15 victory over Mira Costa in the Southern California Division II Regional final.

The Monarchs (35-3) advance to the state Division II championship match Saturday at Cypress College against San Jose Archbishop Mitty, which beat Los Gatos, 26-24, 25-9, 25-9, in Tuesday’s Northern California final.

Croal added 16 digs, senior outside hitter Kelly Klein had 13 kills and a pair of blocks, and senior outside hitter Brynn Maurer had 10 kills and 12 digs for the Monarchs. The three were teammates in 2001 when host Mater Dei lost to Mira Costa.

“It definitely did not feel good two years ago,” Croal said. “We wanted a different ending this time.”

Senior outside hitter Sydney Donahue led Mira Costa (33-4) with 20 kills, 10 of those in the second game when the Mustangs rallied from a 24-22 deficit to even the match score at one game apiece.

Two Mira Costa hitting errors ended the third game in favor of Mater Dei, and the Mustangs appeared to run out of gas in the final frame. Croal put away three of the final four points in the match.

“We gave our all in the first three games,” Mira Costa Coach Dae Lea Aldrich said. “We were pretty beaten up by the time the fourth game started.”

Paul McLeod

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Santa Margarita bounced back from a first-game loss in a Division III Regional final and went on to defeat San Diego University, 18-25, 25-23, 25-23, 26-24, at Santa Margarita High.

The Eagles (27-7) advanced to the state finals for the third time in six years. They will play Mountain View St. Francis, which Santa Margarita defeated in 1999 for its only state title.

The Eagles took a 4-1 lead in the opening game, but University came back to tie the score seven times before scoring six of the next seven points for a 16-11 lead. After Santa Margarita closed the deficit to two points, University scored the final five points of the game. “We just had to see what the other team had,” said Santa Margarita Coach Michelle Sarkees, who credited University’s strong blocks and quick hitting.

“Sometimes you don’t have a chance to get a good scouting report.”

Santa Margarita played a sloppy second game, with five hitting errors and four service errors, but it was University that ended the game with a service error by Katelyn O’Riordon.

University (27-7) also had some good chances to put away Santa Margarita in the third game, holding leads of 9-7 and 17-14, but the Eagles scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 23-19 lead. Later, University scored three consecutive points to cut the lead to 24-23, but Brianna Bowman ended the game with a kill.

-- Dan Arritt