Santa Fe girls volleyball off to hot start
Santa Fe’s Alyjah Castaneda (12), left, is congratulated after scoring a point against Covina in their non-league girls volleyball match at Covina High School on Tuesday. Santa Fe defeated Covina 3-0. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)
COVINA – The Santa Fe High School girls volleyball team is off to a great start for the 2022 season. What a difference a season makes.
Tuesday afternoon (September 6) was no exception, as the Chiefs swept the host Covina Colts, 3-0, in a non-league contest.
The Chiefs, who improved to 12-4, won by scores of 25-12. 25-17, 25-16.
After a 2021 season that resulted in a below .500 record of 6-15 overall and 2-6 record for a fourth-place finish in the Del Rio League, the team has turned it around with third-year coach Gay Brokenbough and is preparing for a run at the league title and a post-season berth in the CIF playoffs.
“Yes we are, that’s our goal, our big goal,” Santa Fe senior setter Alyjah Castaneda said. “It takes a lot of hard work at practice and we always have our goals in mind. We just work on everything we talk about.”
Brokenbough, who returns for a second stint as coach for the Chiefs echoed Castaneda with a big smile. “Ya, I mean we are aiming for it (CIF) and it’s on our radar.”
Brokenbough was the coach from 2001 through 2005. She then was an assistant at Cerritos College from 2007 until 2016 when she decided to retire from coaching. She has taught Math at Santa Fe for the last 20 years.
Brokenbough, however, couldn’t stay away from the game she loved for long. She came back in 2020, but the Pandemic ended that season before it started, of course.
Enter the class of 2023.
“I had a group of freshmen (class of 2023) in my honors geometry class who were on the freshman/JV team,” she explained. “They loved the sport, but were not learning anything. They looked athletic and the coach that got hired in 2019 did not finish his first season. So, I started thinking. ‘Should I go back?’
“I didn’t think I would ever go back to coaching. I was enjoying my time off, but a big piece of me felt I still had an obligation to these kids to learn the game I love. So, I applied for the position and got hired in February 2020. Well, March 2020 we got shut down due to COVID.”
Those freshmen that Brokenbough was doing this for would lose an entire season of touching volleyballs due to COVID.
“I knew their junior year was going to be a building year,” Brokenbough said. “They were all lacking experience. I spent so much time on rotation and skills, that I could not develop their volleyball IQ.”
Unfortunately, Club Volleyball, which can be expensive, was not possible for the players.
However, with the help of the Oasis Volleyball Club, they set up a team last summer and many of the girls played.
“This off-season it was easier,” said Brokenbough, of the training this summer. “I was now able to teach them the game and strategy.”
Certain pieces came together for Brokenbough along the way in the process for this successful season to happen.
“Alyjah (Castaneda) and Paris (Guzman) are the biggest reasons I came back to coach,” said Brokenbough, of her assist leader (Castaneda – 140 A). and (Guzman – 105 Digs, 25 Aces). “They were great students of mine and I could see their dedication.” Castaneda also has 17 aces, 106 digs and 33 kills.
Monique Cardona (35 Aces), a Libero, who leads the team in digs with 231, transferred in to Santa Fe from Los Altos in her sophomore
“She gave me someone with a ton of playing experience,” Brokenbough added. “She has been playing club volleyball for many years already.
“Then I was fortunate to have Abigail (Cetina) and Camya (Bottorff) walk in the doors their freshmen year.”
Bottorff, an outside hitter, leads the team with 84 kills, while Cetina, a setter, has 120 assists, 20 aces and 78 digs.
Asked about the difference between the last two years, Cardona said, “Honestly, it was our defense and the coaching, because (she) is harder on us this year than last year,” Cardona said. “Our hitting has got a lot better. We’re all seniors.”
Actually, the team is made up of nine seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and one freshman.
“I knew the 2021 season would be a time for them to get used to a demanding coach, learn to work with each other, and learn what playing like a team means,” Brokenbough said.
“The result of this year is a culmination of everything I strive my players to be. Team first, work hard, and the reward will come. I have had special teams, but this team is very special to me. They have been through so much and their resilience is amazing. I am devoted to work hard for them and make up the lost two years the seniors had and I want them to go out with a bang.”
Winning streak continues
The Chiefs have won the last four matches in a row and six out of the last seven.
Their hot streak comes just in time, as Del Rio League action starts next week.
Santa Fe, along with Whittier, El Rancho and Cal Hi all will be aiming to dethrone the four-time defending La Serna Lancers.
In fact, the last team other than La Serna to win the league title was Santa Fe in 2016.
The last appearance in the post-season for the Chiefs was in 2017.
La Serna, which has won 24 consecutive DRL matches, hasn’t lost a league match since the October of 2017.
You can bet, the four previously named teams will be aiming for the Lancers this season.
Chiefs sweep Covina, 3-0
Leading the way in the win over Covina was Bottorff and sophomore outside hitter Elizabeth Beltran with eight and six kills, respectively.
Castaneda (14 digs, 14 aces) led with 10 assists and Cetina had seven assists. She also had five digs and three aces.
Cardona added 10 digs and three aces, while senior defensive specialists Nadya Benitiz had five service aces.
As a team, the Chiefs had 15 aces.
In the opening set, Santa Fe jumped out to a 14-5 lead and never looked back. Bottorff led with three kills in the set.
The team combined for seven service aces in the game, with an ace by Benitez to set up set point at 24-12.
Benitez served out the set for the last three points, which was the game-winner when Covina made a hitting error for the victory and the 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second set, the Chiefs again took a 7-2 lead on a service ace by Castaneda.
However, Covina came roaring back due to a series of mistakes by the Chiefs and the game was eventually tied, 12-12.
Another big kill by Bottorff gave the Chiefs a late two-point lead, 16-14. That was the closest the Colts came after that kill, as Santa Fe finished the set on a 9-3 run, culminated with a set-winning kill by an excited Beltran.
In the third and final set, Covina would take its first early lead of the match, 3-2, but that was short-lived.
With Cardona serving and the Chiefs winning four consecutive points, they stretched the lead to 19-11.
Cetina would serve out the match with two consecutive service aces for the 3-0 win.
What they said:
Gay Brokenbough: “This group of seniors is one of the reasons why I came back. I have all of this knowledge. I do love this sport. I just wondered if I had the time and the energy to coach again and I just found it again.”
Monique Cardona, senior libero: “Honestly, playing on the team this year is exciting. We have hope for our league games. We’re doing really good. We came from down here to one of the best in league.
“I think the game against La Serna will be really close.”
Alyjah Castaneda, senior setter: “In order for my position to be in play, I need a good pass and someone to get the ball up and it’s my job to get the set to the outside or the middle so that they can score a point for us.
“We have team goals and individual goals before every game and every day in practice.”