Magical season by Santa Fe girls volleyball ends in semifinal loss
Santa Fe High School senior libero Monique Cardona (center No. 5) and teammates celebrate after a winning point in their CIF-SS Division 7 Semifinal match Saturday against Nordhoff. Nordhoff won, 3-2, to advance to the CIF Championship. (Photos by Paul Wise).
OJAI – It took five sets, but the dream season for the Santa Fe High School Girls Volleyball team ended, but not without a big comeback to force a fifth set.
The Chiefs, trailing 2-1 in sets, evened the match at 2-2, but fell in the fifth and final set and ended their season with a 3-2 loss to host Nordhoff Saturday in the CIF-Southern Section Division 7 semifinals.
With a large contingent of fans, who traveled the 2 ½ hours to Ojai, rooting the team on with every point in the final set, the Chiefs let a 13-11 lead slip away for the eventual, 16-14, loss.
Highlighting the last set were three kills by senior setter Alyjah Castaneda and a kill by sophomore outside hitter Camya Bottorff for a 12-10 lead.
“Being our senior year, I’m glad we made it this far,” Castaneda said. “The fifth set was a roller coaster finish, scoring points, losing points, going back and forth and tied and we had to take it point by point.”
Nordhoff, which is ranked fourth in the division, won 22-25, 25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 16-14.
With the loss, the Chiefs finish with a 23-13 record, while Nordhoff improved to 18-2 and will advance to the CIF finals Saturday against No. 10 Pacifica Christian/Orange County (21-5).
“It’s a labor of love,” Santa Fe Girls Volleyball coach Gay Brokenbough said. “I love this game and my passion for teaching this game has always been my number one focus.
“Knowing I had kids that would buy into it, made it worth it all. The wins come with it and that’s just the icing on the cake for me. It hurts right now, but I feel good.”
Leading the way for the Chiefs was Bottorff with 16 kills, three digs and one block.
Senior libero Monique Cardona had a match-high 25 digs and four assists. Senior setter Alyjah Castaneda (6 digs, 5 kills) and sophomore setter Abigail Cetina (5 digs,3 aces) had 20 and 19 assists, respectively.
“It was all a team and just wasn’t just one person,” Cardona said. “We had it, but just fell short.
“For a libero, you have to do what you can to help the team. It’s very important. We were just so in it in the fourth set. I’m going to give props to coach (Brokenbough). She motivated us and was always there for us.”
Cardona, who had a match-high six service aces, kept Santa Fe in many rallies with her diving saves and multiple digs.
The Chiefs were in their first semifinal in years, maybe as far back as their three championships.
Former coach Mollie Kavanaugh, who led her team in the 70’s to eight league titles, won three consecutive CIF titles from 1975-77.
The Chiefs finished the season tied with La Serna in the Del Rio League, with a 5-3 record.
In the CIF Division 7 playoffs, Santa Fe won the opening match, 3-0 over Jurupa Valley. The second round was a 3-1 win over Westminster, followed by another 3-1 win over Trinity Classical Academy in the quarterfinals.
Santa Fe took a first set win after a big save by Cardona on the winning point for the 25-22 win.
She started the first set serving five winners, with three of them aces.
In the second set, the Chiefs led early, 7-6, but the Rangers reeled off seven consecutive winners and took a 13-7 lead. Santa Fe trailed the rest of the way as the set was even at 1-1.
The Chiefs trailed in the third set by as much as seven points, 17-10, but came all the way back, highlighted by five consecutive points with the serving of Cetina and trailed by a point, 23-22, but eventually lost and the Rangers took a 2-1 lead in the match.
Bottorff had four of her 16 kills in the set.
In the fourth set, Santa Fe trailed late, 21-20, but outscored Nordhoff, 4-1 and Castaneda helped with the final point win after she hit a hard shot over the net that the Rangers couldn’t return.
“Getting those points back brought back so much energy,” said Castaneda, of the fourth-set win.
