ORANGE — The historic postseason run by the Cypress girls volleyball team came to a satisfying end as it swept Clovis West, 25-20, 25-23, 25-22, in the CIF State Division II final Saturday at Santiago Canyon College.
The Centurions (25-10) ended the season on a 10-game winning streak as they secured the first state championship in program history.
Cypress coach Alex Griffiths credited her players for delivering an exceptional performance in the biggest match of their season.
“I’m very honored and I appreciate the credit, but it definitely comes down to these girls, and what they were able and willing to put in,” Griffiths said. “There’s not a lot of people that are willing to have tough coaches, especially these days, so it’s been a blessing to have them, and their families be super supportive and been all in from the beginning.”
“This culture that we created,” she added, “I’m trying to establish and consistently create that going forward in the next generation.”
Senior outside Isabella Faro had a team-high 14-kills with 12 digs, senior outside hitter Kendel Harris added nine kills and 10 digs, and senior outside hitter Leona Alexis chipped in seven kills.
Senior setter Hannah Schoffstall had 29 assists and 11 digs and junior middle blocker Katrina Sokolowski finished with seven kills and a block assist. Senior libero Zuriel Gallegos added 11 digs and an ace.
Griffiths believes the senior-laden group left a lasting imprint on the program.
“I always press the seniors and hold them accountable,” Griffiths said. “It doesn’t matter if you go to hitter, then go to libero, whatever position it may be, there’s a standard of excellence that needs to stay. And no one gets off on any day or any practice or whatever it may be.
“So for us, I rode these seniors tough and they came out ready to ball out, as you can see, it paid off. They played amazing today.”
During a back-and-forth first set, Cypress trailed 14-12 then went on a 8–0 run to seize control and go up 1-0 in the match.
Clovis West (31-14) took a 20-18 lead in the second set when freshman outside hitter Brooklyn Lopez (15 kills) served up an ace.
The Centurions battled their way back and Alexis and Faro helped tie the set 23-23 before they ultimately won the second game to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
“This has been our best performance yet as a team, and as a whole, we executed really well,” Griffiths said. “And that team had amazing defense, and they kept bringing that ball back over. And we did such a good job of just keeping it simple and handling it, and putting them back to bed.”