Sage Hill seeks first CIF crown

The Lightning and Tartans square off in their rubber match today in the CIF Southern Section Division IV-A championship match.The Sage Hill School girls’ volleyball team will meet a familiar foe when it takes the court for the school’s first-ever CIF Southern Section championship match appearance.

Sage Hill, the No. 1 seed in CIF’s Division IV-A, and No. 2-seed St. Margaret’s, which shared the Academy League title with the Lightning after splitting a pair of league matches, will meet a third time today at Cypress College at 10 a.m. to determine the CIF Division IV-A champion.

“I think we’re the two best teams in the division, so it’s definitely the right matchup,” Sage Hill Coach Dan Thomassen said.

After playing St. Margaret’s twice, Sage Hill knows what kind of team it is facing in the Tartans. Both of the previous meetings went five games.

“They’ve got six seniors, they are a very experienced squad,” Thomassen said. “They don’t waver.”

Sage Hill will counter with three seniors and what Thomassen feels is a mature team.

After Sage Hill defeated St. Margaret’s for the first time on Nov. 1, Lightning senior star Cat Dailey was asked about the possibility of seeing them again in the playoffs.

“Oh, I hope so,” Dailey said. “If we played them in CIF, it would probably go five games again. We are very evenly matched.”

Dailey had 20 kills and Kelsey Lawler tallied 44 assists in the Nov. 1 match.

Both teams have had relatively easy roads to the title match.

Sage Hill defeated Bishop Diego, Murrieta Calvary Chapel and Grace Brethren in three games and Viewpoint in four games to reach the final.

St. Margaret’s beat Downey Calvary Chapel, Linfield Christian, Brethren Christian and Chadwick -- all in three games -- to reach the championship match.200511193T1L4Q8TNo Caption