On Nov. 4, Point Loma’s No. 7-seeded girls volleyball team lost a CIF Div. I quarterfinal match to Del Norte, ending the team’s dream of a second San Diego Section CIF championship in the past three years.
\nThe loss left the girls with a 20-12 overall mark including a 7-3 Western League record, good for a second place finish behind undefeated Cathedral Catholic.
\nAfter shedding tears of disappointment, the Pointers, who don’t have a single senior on their roster, vowed to make a serious run for the title in 2017 and dispersed.
\nBut a surprise phone call suddenly brought them back together and sent them on a journey that ended with them winning the Southern California championship, losing only one set en route, and playing in a state championship match for the first time in the school’s history.
\nThe Lady Pointers learned they had been selected by the California CIF to play in the 39th annual state championships as a Div. IV entrant. And they were given the No. 2 seed.
\nThe team hastily re-formed and continued practice sessions under head coach Davis Ransom, whose arrival in 2010 signaled a revival of the sport at the school.
\nPlaying on their familiar home court, the Pointers first met Providence High School’s Pioneers of Burbank, who arrived at the first round game with a 20-8 overall record. The Pointers eliminated them in a 3-0 straight set victory with set scores of 25-16, 25-10 and 25-12.
\nNext to arrive on Chatsworth Boulevard was Simi Valley’s Grace Brethren School, and the Lancers also failed to win a set as the Pointers outscored them 25-18, 25-14 and 25-20 in a second round match.
\nStill playing at home because of their high seed, the local girls welcomed the Knights from Ontario Christian who walked onto the court with a 22-6 record. But they left after being eliminated in a 3-1 Pointer victory with set scores of 25-18, 21-25, 26-24 and 25-20.
\nIn a regional semifinal game Nov. 26, the Roadrunners from Loma Linda Academy (26-4) visited the Pointers and were also dispatched in straight sets with scores of 27-25, 25-23 and 25-19.
\nThis victory gave the Pointers the Southern California championship and sent them to the state finals at Santiago Canyon College in Orange.
\nThat match, played last Saturday, pitted the Pointers against Northern Division champion Menlo School from Atherton, who entered the finals with a 24-8 record.
\nThe long playoff road finally ended for the Pointers as the Knights defeated them in a straight set victory by scores of 25-18, 25-13 and 25-21.
\nRansom was thrilled with his team’s performance and excited about the possibilities that will arise next season with every team member returning. This year’s team numbered two freshmen, five sophomores and eight juniors.
\nTeam members include Sierra Pennell, Katharine Olcott, Mia Hegerle, Rebecca Nuanez, Sydney Hill, Sophia Altobelli, Hailey Brockett, Sierra Caffo, Delaney Sanders, Kylie Komo, Reese Turner, Lauren Valenzuela, Charlie Ekstrom, Maggie Wolf and Tara DeBenedetto. Extra points: Volleyball has 43,423 participants in California, the third highest of any girls’ sport according to the state CIF office.
\nThe 2014 Pointers stunned long-time champion LaCosta Canyon by defeating them in a thrilling match to win their first-ever CIF title in 2014.
\nFor the Menlo School team that won the state title, this marked their sixth state championship appearance and first win.
\nDel Norte, who eliminated the Pointers in the local CIF tournament, went on to win the San Diego CIF Div. I championship over No. 4 seed Otay Ranch.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Nov. 4, Point Loma’s No. 7-seeded girls volleyball team lost a CIF Div. I quarterfinal match to Del Norte, ending the team’s dream of a second San Diego Section CIF championship in the past three years. The loss left the girls with a 20-12 overall mark including a 7-3 Western League record, good for […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":265771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Pointers win Southern California volleyball title","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561,11553],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}