Sierra Canyon wins its first ever D1 title, Alemany repeats against Oaks and Buckley captures its first crown since 2017

Championship Volleyball was in full swing for five CIF-SS programs from the San Fernando Valley in Sierra Canyon, Bishop Alemany, Campbell Hall, Buckley and AGBU of Canoga Park.

SIERRA CANYON (Division 1 Southern Section Title)

Pittsburgh signee Olivia Babcock helped the Trailblazers of Sierra Canyon make SFV history, as they became the first team to win the highest division in the CIF. Sierra swept aside 15-time champion Mira Costa Mustangs 28-26, 25-25 and 25-23 at Cerritos College to bring home their 3rd title in program history joining the 2016 and 2017 teams.

Babcock finished the match with a team high 22 kills and said in an Instagram interview about what it took to take down the Goats of CIF success: “I think we all wanted to win really badly, so just the drive and motivation really pushed us. We also knew that we were in for the long run so no matter how many sets it took, we were going to give our all every single set,” She added on their very tough schedule they had to prepare for a CIF finals win with “We just knew that no matter what, it was going to be hard to get to the finals and even though our bracket was hard, we were excited to see some good competition to prepare us better for the finals. We worked really hard before every game and knew we would have to put in our best effort to get the results we wanted and that’s exactly what we did.”

Cornell bound Jaida Sione collected 11 kills, while Boston College signee Danica Rach had eight kills to go along with the spectacular defensive play by sophomore libero Lauren Lynch, who had 21 digs and junior setter Sade Ilawole recorded 46 assists.

Sierra Canyon will now be off to the SoCal Regional Open playoffs to face 7th ranked and Mission League rival in the Sailors of Marymount for the fourth time this year and the third from Chatsworth, first serve will be on Wednesday night at 6pm, before a possible second round matchup against #3 Mira Costa in a rematch of the CIF-SS Division 1 finals and that match would take place this Saturday night at 6 as well should they win in Round 1.

BISHOP ALEMANY (Division 3 Southern Section Title)

As for the Warriors, they also brought home the gold in the CIF finals against the same Oaks Christian Lions team at their gym for the second year in a row. They started all underclassmen, who shined once again in Texas A&M junior commit London Wijay, whose fifth ace of the match secured the title to go along with 20 kills, six blocks and 11 digs on defense. Havyn Rolle had 13 kills and Makaila Atkins had 16 digs, while setter Kyla Firestone finished with 42 assists and I had the privilege of sitting down with champions in Gabi Polishuk as well as the Firestone twins of Lexie and Kyla. Here is the interview to what they had to say to me. The Warriors will begin their quest to take home their first state championship when they are on the road at the reigning Southern Section D2 champion Vista Murrieta in the opening round of the SoCal Division 1 Regionals on Tuesday for a epic matchup at 6pm.

CAMPBELL HALL (Division 4 Southern Section Finalist)

The Vikings were trying to win their first CIF championship since their head coach Sydney Carfagno was the Southern Section 3A Player of the Year in 2010 Unfortunately, this time around, - they fell in three sets to host Saugus on the campus of Golden Valley High School. Junior hitting sensation Mila Mijailovic posted 13 kills, while Sierra Starkman finished with seven kills. On the defensive side of the ball, Isabella Marrero had 10 digs and setter Althea Morris collected 17 assists. Saugus out hit the Vikings .364 to .039 and had 17 more kills than Campbell Hall. The Vikings will now begin the SoCal Division 2 bracket at Francis Parker of San Diego with first serve Tuesday at 6pm.

BUCKLEY (Division 5 Southern Section Title)

The Griffins of Sherman Oaks was involved in quite a back and forth match that resulted in 28 ties and overcame several deficits to capture the program’s first championship since winning the Division 8 crown in 2017. Sophomore outside hitter Tate Drageset was a force to be reckoned with as she couldn’t be stopped, leading Buckley with 13 kills, while junior Adonia Anene finished with 10 kills and junior setter Charlotte Reff recorded 25 assists. Buckley was awarded the top seed in the SoCal Regional Division 3 bracket and will face the winner of the match between Kennedy of La Palma and Sage Creek of Carlsbad on Thursday night at 6pm.

AGBU (Division 9 Southern Section Finalist)

The Titans of Canoga Park are currently having a magical season for the ages as they only have eight players on their roster. This was also their first time advancing past the first round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Titans fell in the finals in four sets at home to Excelsior Charter of Victorville, who received a triple double from Faith Di Mola with 12 kills and 10 aces on the offensive side of the ball and 14 digs on the defensive end. Senior captain Danielle Robinson of AGBU was able to share her experience with me, here’s the link to the interview we did. AGBU was ranked 9th in the upcoming SoCal Regional D5 bracket and they start their next journey at Orange Vista of Perris on Tuesday at 6pm.

HARVARD WESTLAKE and CHAMINADE

Harvard Westlake will make the journey North to Bakersfield to face Liberty Patriots in the first round of the Division 1 of the Southern California Regionals. Chaminade’s side of the Division 2 SoCal Regional bracket is one of the toughest paths. If they beat #14 Redwood, upcoming matches for the Eagles could be against either #2 Oaks Christian (SS D3 finalist), #6 Edison or #7 Saugus (SS D4 Champion). All first round matches are Tuesday night at 6pm.