Sage Hill falls at Mater Dei

SANTA ANA — Sage Hill School and Mater Dei have been two of the upper echelon girls’ volleyball programs in their respective divisions in recent years. In the past two seasons, they both played for CIF Southern Section championships, as well as for trips to CIF State finals.

The private schools met on Wednesday in a nonleague match. Last year, Sage Hill swept the Monarchs at home. This year, Mater Dei returned the favor inside its gym.

The Monarchs’ size proved to be too much for the Lightning to handle. Mater Dei swept, 25-8, 25-18, 25-14.

“We knew getting a game or two, or winning the match was going to be really tough,” Sage Hill Coach Dan Thomassen said. “I think it’s good motivation for our girls to figure out how to play with energy on the road and be ready to beat teams that are really experienced.”

Mater Dei (16-3), ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA poll, won its second straight match since losing a best-of-three quarterfinal to Temecula Great Oak, 25-23, 25-23, at the ASICS California Challenge in San Diego on Saturday.

The setback to Great Oak, the top-ranked team in Division 1AA, ended the Monarchs’ 10-match winning streak in which it downed the likes of Santa Margarita, No. 4 in Division 1AA, and Rancho Cucamonga, No. 1 in Division 1A.

Sage Hill (9-9), No. 4 in Division 3AA, was the latest ranked program Mater Dei topped. Sage Hill played its second contest in three days against a section runner-up, sweeping Los Angeles Windward at home on Monday.

The Monarchs, the Division 1AA runner-up the previous two years, featured half a dozen players who were at least 6 feet tall, and they got revenge on the Lightning. Shannon Scully, a 6-2 outside hitter, finished with 14 kills and Rachel Ritchie, a 6-0 outside hitter, contributed 11 kills.

The two led the way for Mater Dei, helping it overcome an early deficit. Sage Hill opened the match recording three of the first four points. Jade Blevins set Emily Lassiter and Jamie Dailey up for kills, and then Blevins surprised the Monarchs by putting a shot away.

Then Mater Dei began to take control. Scully, who has offers from Santa Clara and UC Irvine, collected three kills during an 11-4 run and Angela Gonzalez and Rachel Davis each produced service aces. Thomassen called a timeout, hoping to slow down the Monarchs. They kept putting on the pressure, scoring the next seven points.

Davis, who finished with three aces and 14 assists, continued to serve tough for Mater Dei. Makena Martin, a 6-0 senior middle blocker bound for Texas Christian University, hammered three kills and stuffed two shots during the latest spurt. Sage Hill managed to break the scoreless streak on Lassiter’s kill, cutting the deficit to 19-8. The following six points belonged to the Monarchs, as Ritchie, a future Loyola Marymount University player, pounded three kills down the stretch to easily close things out in Game 1.

“We just gave up two or three runs in the first set,” Thomassen said, “but I like the energy we came out with [in Game 2].”

The second set was the best Sage Hill played against Mater Dei. Dailey, who led the Lightning with 10 kills, kept her team within striking distance.

Sage Hill put together a 3-0 run in Game 2. Blevins dumped another ball for a kill, Amiyah De’Long pounded one of her six kills and Sydnee Francis delivered an ace, cutting the Monarchs’ lead to 19-16. Sage Hill managed to get within three again, at 21-18, after a kill by Isabel Shapiro and a team block, but Mater Dei claimed the set’s final four points.

“They’re solid,” Mater Dei Coach Dan O’Dell said of the visitors, who won last year’s matchup as the Monarchs played without two standout seniors, Alyse Ford and Brittany Welsh. “I expect them to make another run in their division for CIF.”

Another team that many expect to contend in Division 3AA, along with the Lightning, is St. Margaret’s. Sage Hill, which has reached the section finals the last four years, plays host to St. Margaret’s, No. 1 in Division 3AA, in a key Academy League match on Friday at 5 p.m.

The Tartans won the league opener between the rivals, 25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 24-26, 15-13, at home on Sept. 22 and remain undefeated in first place. The loss in league marked defending league champion Sage Hill’s first since losing at Crean Lutheran on Oct. 29, 2013.

“The fact that we [lost the first two sets] against [the Tartans] and then came back and got to 13-13 in the fifth, and had a chance to win the match [told us] … that we’re never out of a match,” said Thomassen, whose team is 4-1 in league. “At home, we expect a big crowd and a great atmosphere. It’s what we look forward to all year is those kind of matches.”