Sierra Canyon girls volleyball tops Marymount in Mission League showdown
CHATSWORTH -Sierra Canyon’s girls volleyball team won the high-flying match of undefeated Mission League teams on Monday.
The Trailblazers came out on top in a wild five-set victory against Marymount, 25-19, 24-26, 25-22, 25-27, 15-11, that put them in the driver’s seat for the league title.
Sierra Canyon bested the Blazers just nine days ago in tournament play.
The Trailblazers (25-3, 6-0) got boosts from all over the roster, but in the end it was junior Kendall Omoruyi who made plays to close out the night. Omoruyi, a Nebraska commit, had a quiet night on the block before contributing two solo blocks in the fifth game.
The junior middle also pounded down two of her team-high 16 kills in the final set, including a right-side attack for match point.
“I love the way that we came out tonight with a solid plan in terms of our blocking and attacking,“ said Blazers coach Stefanie Wigfall. “I think we just had to really stick to the plan tonight and we did.”
Sierra Canyon got off to a slow start in set one but settled in later in the set. The Trailblazers got a little breathing room at the end but took set one thanks to four straight errors from Marymount (31-4, 3-1).
The Sailors cleaned up some errors in the second set, but still wound up down 24-21. Marymount never said die and fired off five straight points to win its first of two deuce sets on the night.
Sailors middle blocker Elle Vandeweghe had back-to-back kills in the scoring run and finished the night with nine kills and five blocks.
Vandeweghe’s effort was matched by her opposite, junior Katelyn Oerlemans, in set four. The junior middle caught fire and contributed five of her 14 kills and two of her five blocks in the fourth.
Sierra Canyon trailed for a good portion of the fifth set before a solo block from McKenna McIntosh tied the game at 9-9.
From there, it was all Trailblazers. A block from Omoyuri, an ace from McIntosh and a kill from Hanna McGinest were the difference in the final stretch. McIntosh finished with 11 kills, four aces and opposite hitter Eva Jeffries added seven kills and three straight aces in set three.
“We’ve got more guns this year than we’ve ever had in terms of offense and we still have to put together chemistry,” Wigfall said. “Marymount has this continuity from last year where everything is the same in their building with that senior class. We have some incredible athletes, but we’re still building with our chemistry, and we don’t have much more time, so we’re trying to get that done as quick as possible.”
Marymount outside hitter Makenna Barnes led with a match-high 18 kills along with three aces.
Monday marked the seventh match in four years where the two teams went past straight sets. Wigfall knows no matter what, a match with Marymount will always be a battle.
“There’s an advantage to playing them just a few days ago and that advantage, I would say, definitely goes to the team that maybe lost, because they can go back and sort of figure out where they need to be better,” Wigfall said. “With Marymount, it’s a crapshoot every time. Just such two talented, competitive teams and one of the best coaches around. So I just strap in and just try to go to battle every time we play them. That’s all I can do.”
Sierra Canyon has won 19 of its last 20 matches, but Wigfall still sees plenty to improve on as the team aims to peak when it matters most.
“I really want to peak at the right time,” Wigfall said. “So I think right now, how we’re playing is great. I still think there’s a lot more that we can do, and that is my goal, is to really hone in on the areas that I know that we can make a very massive improvement, and get that done between now and the middle of October. It’s a fast-paced season, we’re going to be in playoffs here soon. But the good news is we still have so much where we can get better, so I’m going to stay focused on those things.”
Both teams are right back to it on Tuesday. Sierra Canyon has a league battle at Chaminade while Marymount heads to Harvard-Westlake.
Sierra Canyon and Marymount will battle one more time in the regular season, on Tuesday, Oct. 7, in a match that’ll likely decide the Mission League title.