The Reseda Regents have had to be road warriors for the last two years as they have waited on the completion of their new gym. Last year, the Regents won the Valley Mission League, but were upended in the CIF Los Angeles City Section Division 3 semifinals by the Rancho Dominguez Lobos, who were crowned the D3 champions following their win in the finals. This season, their second as nomads, Reseda fell to second in the VML, but that didn’t diminish their drive. The Regents competed in their second consecutive D3 semifinals, and this time they left no doubt, sweeping the Diego Rivera Wolves 25-13, 25-12, 25-19 to advance to the first finals in program history.

Reseda finished their regular season 13-3 with a 10-2 record in league play, earning them the top seed in D3. They took that same level of play into their matchup with the Wolves. The Regents built considerable leads in both the first and second sets before putting Diego Rivera away. The third set was more of a battle, but that would be expected as the Wolves were the No. 4 seeded team in the division.

The opening set was back and forth through the first 15 points where Reseda held a 9-6 advantage. From there, the Regents turned it on, increasing their lead to 20-8 behind strong play from senior Lesly Mejia and junior Layla Reyes. Mejia, a middle blocker, contributed a tip and a kill during the run while forcing the Wolves to avoid hitting the ball in her direction at the net. Reyes, an outside hitter, contributed a kill and an ace as well. 

Reseda stormed out to a 12-5 lead in the second set behind the service and net play of senior middle blocker Emelia Gustavsson. Gustavsson had three kills and an ace during that stretch. Reyes was a big contributor in this set as well, with three kills in the back half to help the Regents close out the set. Mejia reminded Diego Rivera to be careful of their play at the net when she recorded a block that the Wolves couldn’t handle for the 25th and final point.

Diego Rivera did not lie down and concede defeat, battling neck and neck throughout the third set. The Wolves eventually took their first lead of the match at 12-11 on an ace from senior Kenzie Perez. She added two more aces to make it three straight. Perez served six straight points, including a fourth ace that pushed the score to 17-11. 

“Sometimes funky things happen, unlucky things happen, and when you get down things can stack up on each other,” Reseda coach Isebiu Reyes said when asked about the third set, “We are still a relatively young and inexperienced team, and sometimes that can get to us. I just love that they pulled through.”

Reseda fought back from there with a block from Gustavsson. A net violation was followed by a kill from Reyes and an ace from Zahra Numa that forced a Diego Rivera time out with the Regents within two. The set was tied at 18-18 and again at 19 apiece before Reseda put the Wolves down. They scored the final six points, four on kills from Reyes, to close out the set 25-19.

The Regents coach was now allowing himself to look ahead to the finals on Saturday, “Reseda High School girls volleyball has never made a finals in the history of the school, 1955, so we plan on continuing to make more history.”

The Regents will play in their first ever City Section volleyball finals on Saturday at 10:00 am at CSUN. They will face No. 2 seed Arleta Mustangs who defeated No. 3 East Valley 3-1.