When all was said and done for local teams last Saturday afternoon at Canyon Crest Academy in the CIF girls volleyball finals, one local team captured gold while another put up a valiant effort in losing its match. First off, The Bishop’s School secured the CIF Division IV championship with a 25-18, 25-23, 27-25 victory over Santa Fe Christian. Bishop’s (25-8) had lost to the Lady Eagles in last year’s title match and state regional encounter, but this time around the result proved different. The Lady Knights jumped out early in game one, holding a fairly commanding lead throughout. In games two and three, Bishop’s fell behind and battled back to nip the Lady Eagles at the end of each game. “Julie Gantz was exceptional from the service line; she had seven aces, and she led important runs at the end of games two and three,” Bishop’s head coach Tod Mattox noted. “Kristen Casey again led us with 11 kills, and Kendall Lord chipped in eight along with great blocking.” Mattox also noted the play of Carly Bollert with 13 digs, while Savannah Smith was a huge factor in the middle with five blocks. Bishop’s entered state play this past Tuesday evening in a first-round home match against Anaheim Connelly. The Lady Knights won, 25-13, 25-12 and 25-14, Bishop’s got to last weekend’s CIF title game with a 25-23, 25-23, 23-12 victory over Francis Parker in the semifinals. “Given that they beat us a week before, everyone was expecting another knock-down drag-out match,” Mattox commented. “In the first two games we were super tight, and we squeaked out 2-point wins in each of them, after overcoming a 17-12 deficit in game two. In game three, they struggled and we put it to them.” Casey and Thea Derrough were the Bishop’s kill leaders with 11 each, while Casey added 10 digs as well. Ina Kamenova was solid as well, tallying 31 assists and 7 digs, while Gantz was the team’s ace leader with four. While Bishop’s secured the Division IV crown, La Jolla High gave perennial power Cathedral Catholic a great battle for the Division III crown later in the day last Saturday. Making its 13th CIF finals appearance, Cathedral pulled away from Western League rival La Jolla for a 25-23, 25-22, 25-20 victory. Amanda Gordon (10 kills), Caitlin Parmer (seven kills) and Gracie Drozda (four kills) helped keep the Lady Vikings in the match, while teammate  Karly Deer ran the offense with 18 assists and three aces. La Jolla opened state play Tuesday evening versus Brentwood High in Los Angeles and lost, 25-17, 25-12 and 25-11.