Santa Fe girls volleyball advance to CIF-SS D7 semifinals
Santa Fe players and students celebrate their win over Trinity Classical Academy after their CIF quarterfinal playoff match at Santa Fe High School on Wednesday. Santa Fe defeated Trinity Classical Academy 3-1. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
SANTA FE SPRINGS – Twenty years ago, the Santa Fe High School Girls Volleyball team advanced to the CIF-Southern Section quarterfinals.
This year marks the first time since 2002 that the Chiefs advanced to the quarterfinals.
Add a new chapter to that story.
The Santa Fe Girls Volleyball team, who have three CIF titles to their credit from the 70’s, are on the path to a fourth title, as they advanced to the CIF-Southern Section Division 7 Semifinals for the first time in as long as anyone at the school can remember.
Perhaps it’s all the way back to their third of three titles in 1977.
Longtime former Santa Fe Girls Volleyball coach Molly Cavanaugh also won eight league titles in and around the three CIF Championships.
Before a raucous home crowd at Santa Fe, the Chiefs defeated visiting Trinity Classical Academy of Valencia, 3-1.
“I’m just really proud of this program,” Santa Fe Principal Craig Campbell said. “Coach Gay (Brokenbough) came back and had a vision for this program and put the time in to work with these girls, battle through the pandemic and now we’re seeing the fruits of their labor.”
Santa Fe’s Alyjah Castaneda (12) reacts after scoring a point against Trinity Classical Academy in their CIF quarterfinal playoff game at Santa Fe High School on Wednesday. Santa Fe defeated Trinity Classical Academy 3-1. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
The Chiefs, who finished tied for second in the Del Rio League and are ranked No. 9 in the division, won by scores of 25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 26-24.
With the win, Santa Fe improves to 23-12 overall and will travel to Nordhoff of Ojai (17-2), a 3-2 winner over Avalon Saturday for a chance to advance to the CIF Championships.
No. 4-ranked Nordhoff won the Citrus Belt League title with a perfect 12-0 record.
Leading the way for Santa Fe was sophomore outside hitter Camya Bottorff with a match-high 18 kills. She also had three digs.
“I’m so excited,” said Bottorff, who was still shaking from excitement. “It’s so much adrenaline.”
Bottorff, who had seven kills in the first two sets, knew the Knights we’re staying away from her in the last two sets.
“It’s a little nerve wracking,” she said. “Because, now I know I’m now targeted. It also makes me want to work harder to get more kills because I have to show them who I am.”
Chiefs sophomore Elizabeth Beltran added 12 kills and five digs, while senior outside Angelina Mandy added six kills and senior outside Ariel Romero contributed four kills and three digs.
With a match-high 22 assists was Santa Fe sophomore setter Abigail Cetina (1 Service Ace, 7 Digs) with 22 and senior setter Alyjah Castaneda had 20 assists, 13 digs and six kills.
Senior libero Monique Cardona had 13 digs and two aces, while senior outside Paris Guzman (1 Ace) had seven digs and freshman outside Emma Borquez (2 Aces) added five digs.
“I’m excited and very happy for the girls,” said Santa Fe Girls volleyball coach Gay Brokenbough, who was surrounded by a supportive home crowd. “It’s well deserved all the way around. I’m elated and it’s a great feeling.
“They stressed me out a little bit.”
Brokenbough, who is in her second stint as head coach for the Chiefs when they last advanced to the quarterfinals in 2002, knew she had something special last year.
“I had a few of them as students and (with) their passion and desire I knew they could carry us over the top. We just filled in the missing pieces, especially with Mo (Cardona) transferring here in her sophomore year.”
As Trinity had four hits to end the match, the students rushed the Santa Fe players at center court, the reality set in that this team that had potential all year to go this far.
Perhaps, the crucial point of the four-set match came on the winning point of the second set win for the Chiefs.
On the winning point, Bottorff tipped the ball over and senior outside Emma Carver of Trinity hit the ball high up over the net and it dropped close to the out of bounds line on the court.
“That was a close call,” Bottorff said. “I almost touched it and I would have been very disappointed if I did.”
With that win, the Chiefs went up 2-1 and had all the momentum on the court. They then took a big early lead in the fourth set.
In the first set, trailing, 15-10, the Chiefs went on a 7-0 run behind the serving of Paris Guzman to take their first lead of the match, 17-15.
Bottorff and Cetina had consecutive kills in the middle of the run.
The Chiefs never trailed the rest of the way, as Trinity finally caught up to Santa Fe, 23-23, but a double hit by the Knights and a set-winning kill deep in the back of the court by Romero sealed the first set.
The Knights, who finished second in the Heritage league with a 12-2 record, took a 6-1 lead in the second set and never trailed the rest of the way for the win and 1-1 tie in the match.
In the third set, the Chiefs had 13 kills, but neither team had more than a 4-point lead throughout. After a service error by the Chiefs late in the set which brought the Knights within three points, 22-19, Santa Fe reeled off three consecutive points – with kills by Beltran and Bottorff, to end the match to lead, 2-1.
Santa Fe players celebrate their win over Trinity Classical Academy after their CIF quarterfinal playoff match at Santa Fe High School on Wednesday. Santa Fe defeated Trinity Classical Academy 3-1. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
That’s when old Mo took over.
The air seemed to be taken out of the gym from the Trinity fans and the Chiefs took advantage of it.
The fourth set started with energy for the Chiefs as Cardona served six straight winners to start the set.
Leading 20-19, the Chiefs received three kills consecutively from Cardona, Romero and Bottorff for the 23-19 lead.
“This is definitely surreal,” Romero said. “We’re going to the semifinals. It’s an incredible feeling.
“The pressure is definitely on, and we played a lot of good teams and we’re the best team out here right now. We play our hardest and we’re capable of going to the finals.
“This is very big, for our school, for our team. It’s just so amazing.”
However, Trinity wouldn’t go away, as they eventually tied the set near the end, 24-24.
That was caused by two consecutive balls out of the court by the Chiefs.
On the third match point, Beltran had a kill to take a 25-24 lead before the Knights ended the match with four hits that sent the Chiefs to the semifinals.
