SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Mater Dei picked the best time of the girls volleyball season to play its best volleyball.
The Monarchs swept San Juan Hills in three sets Saturday to advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 final. The scores: 25-15, 25-11 and 25-15.
Mater Dei (31-5) will play Sierra Canyon (38-3) in the championship match Saturday at 6 p.m. at Cerritos College. Sierra Canyon beat Marymount in five sets in the other Division 1 semifinal on Saturday.
Mater Dei won CIF-SS championships last season and in 2023. The Monarchs beat Sierra Canyon in last year’s Division 1 final. Mater Dei and Sierra Canyon have not played against each other this season.
San Juan Hills, champion of the South Coast League, qualified for the CIF Southern California Regional by advancing to the CIF-SS semifinals. The Stallions will take a 22-6 record into the SoCal Regional that begins Nov. 11.
Monarchs senior outside hitter Layli Ostovar, last year’s CIF-SS Division 1 and Orange County player of the year, had a team-high 15 kills Saturday. Ostovar, who committed to USC, also had nine digs.
Mater Dei junior outside hitter Westley Matavao, All-County first team and All-CIF Division 1 last year, had 14 kills. Senior setter Sam Capinpin contributed 18 assists and senior libero Lizzy Robinson had 10 digs – two of them on the same rally on blasts by San Juan Hills star sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodges – and two service aces.
The Monarchs have won 16 consecutive matches and have not lost a set since dropping the first set in a Trinity League win over JSerra on October 2. Including Saturday’s sweep, Mater Dei has won 21 straight sets.
Mater Dei coach Dan O’Dell seems to always find a quibble here or there. But even he was impressed by how well the Monarchs played Saturday.
“I think we’re playing at the level we wanted to be at in September,” O’Dell said. “We weren’t quite there. But, yeah, think we’ve come together.
“The girls are playing great right now. They’re all locked in and mentally focused. They have great cohesion on the court and it shows.”
San Juan Hills as usual got great play from Hodges and junior middle blocker Whitney Port and many others. The Stallions had won 16 matches in a row, including a playoffs win over Sunset League champion Los Alamitos, going into Saturday.
Mater Dei on Saturday trailed only once, 2-1, in the first set. The Monarchs bolted to an 8-1 lead in the second set and 7-2 in the third.
Matavao, who committed to UCLA, was asked if the Monarchs are playing at their peak.
“I believe so,” she said. “We’re playing for each other, playing the girl who’s next to you. This is the blueprint of what we can be.”