The Regents put their nerves away in the fourth set to claim the first City Section title for girls volleyball in school history

Is the moment too big? That’s the question rumbling through collective minds as the Reseda Regents fought, but fumbled their way through the third set of their 3-1 (25-14, 25-13, 21-25, 25-8) win over the Arleta Mustangs. Up two sets to one following two convincing set wins, Reseda began to commit uncharacteristic errors and the Mustangs capitalized. The girls rallied behind their leadership and closed out the match in the fourth set for Reseda’s first ever Los Angeles City Section championship in volleyball.

“A lot of times championships are not won in one season.” reflected Regents coach Isebiu “Coach Boo” Reyes. “This was a five year journey for us and I got to give it to everybody that came before (this year’s team). They all had to buy in in order for this group to come together.”

The Regents and Mustangs opened the first set even for the first seven points, with Reseda holding a 3-4 advantage. From there, the Regents recorded points in chunks while only surrendering one or two in between. Reseda pushed its early advantage to five points at 8-3 behind two aces from senior Alyssa Ornelas. Senior Emelia Gustavsson extended the lead to 16-8 later in the set with a well placed tip. That eight-point deficit was as close as Arleta could get at that point in the opening set, with a service error giving set point to Reseda, 25-14.

The second set looked somewhat similar to the opening set with Reseda holding a 6-3 advantage after the first nine points. Junior Gabriella Funes helped the Regents take control of the set with a block before delivering three aces to stretch the lead to seven points at 15-8. Junior Layla Reyes added two kills late in the set as Reseda scored eight of the final nine points punctuated by another ace from Ornelas to take the set at 25-13 and give the Regents a commanding 2-0 lead.

Arleta, however, was not ready to concede defeat just yet. The Mustangs have battled all season long, and they unsurprisingly fought back. Arleta pushed a back-and-forth third set to a 7-7 tie by capitalizing on Reseda miscues and senior Monique DeNava’s two kills. Junior middle hitter Leslie Marquez, who, along with DeNava, tried to will the Mustangs through the first two sets added two points in the subsequent run where the teams found themselves tied again at 14-14. Gustavsson gave the Regents a short-lived lead at 16-15, but Reseda wasn’t able to clean up their game in the set. Kills from junior Madeline Rodriguez and sophomore Stephanie Garcia put the Mustangs in position to win the set, 20-22. Arleta forced errors on the final two points and had momentum with their 21-25 win.

“We’ve been doing this all season long.” Arleta head coach Steve Martinez said after the loss. “It’s been a little (bit) of a roller coaster season, but the one thing they haven’t done all season is they haven’t given up. They keep fighting.”

“They did make a bunch of mistakes, but they didn’t let that get to them,” said Reyes regarding the third set and the rebound in the fourth set. “They actually stepped up their game. That’s been our saying all season – we’re locked in.”

The Mustangs scored the opening point of the fourth set, but quickly found themselves down 5-1. Gustavsson contributed a kill and an ace in that stretch for the Regents, but her service error gave the ball back to Arleta. Reyes then added three straight kills for an 8-2 advantage. Garcia had two kills of her own trying to keep the Mustangs within striking distance, but another Gustavsson kill reestablished the 5-point advantage at 12-7. Following an offensive miscue, a kill from senior Zahra Numa gave the Regents service, and they didn’t give it back. Two kills each from Reyes and Gustavsson extended the lead to 21-8. Arleta was unable to keep the ball in formation, and a ball hit out gave Reseda a 25-8 win and their first ever girls volleyball championship.