Top-seed SHP falls in NorCal finals

By Terry Bernal Daily Journal Staff
The SHP Girls Volleyball team saw it's season come to a close as the Gators fell to Lowell in the NorCal Division III Championship. 

Any loss in a postseason elimination match is tough. But the way Sacred Heart Prep saw its season end was especially excruciating.

As the No. 1 seed in the CIF Division III State Volleyball Championship tournament, the Gators marched into Tuesday’s Northern California regional finals brimming with confidence. And that continued through the opening two sets against No. 6 Lowell (27-9 overall), as SHP battled to win them both.

Tireless Lowell — a team that has never before played for a Nor Cal volleyball championship — simply would not go away. Defending mercilessly and dominating through the middle, Lowell rallied back from two sets down to stun the Gators (26-12) in five sets, ending SHP’s season 27-29, 21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 15-11.

“I think it was probably fatigue and also just seeing the score up on there,” SHP senior Leia Bonifacio said. “We knew there was possibility we wouldn’t come out on top. And that kind of fear was digging us into a hole.”

Bonfacio was a defensive factor, especially early on, in spinning up the many prolonged rallies throughout the match. Along with libero Evelyn Sutton, and six-rotation standouts Elena Radeff and Millie Muir, the Gators matched Lowell with their back-row play.

Up front, however, was a different story.

Lowell scored 12 match blocks, including a critical one off a left-side attack when senior Mariko Tanaka denied Muir to force match point. The Gators then rallied for a 4-0, sparked by a left-side flip kill by senior Regan Smith. Bonifacio stepped to the service line, floating an ace amid a 3-point service run, with only one thing on her mind.

“I had nothing on my mind except for make the ball in,” Bonifacio said.

Lowell setter Gabriella Quach came up clutch, though, finishing off the Division III Nor Cal championship with a dump shot for her fifth kill to send her team, riding a thrilling comeback, to Saturday’s state championship match.

“Honestly, they just put their hearts and souls into this,” Lowell head coach Kelly Sung said. “They knew it’s one-and-done, right? You don’t win, you’re out. And for them, I think after the second set that it’s anybody’s game. I think we were close that first set; it kind of shook us a little bit. And then, coming back makes it …”

Sung’s intensity spoke volumes in finishing that thought. The coach a constant in-game communicator, constantly tweaking her team’s tactical approach on the floor.

The team not only responded to Sung with outstanding defense, the Cardinals used a middle attack to frustrate SHP all night long. Tanaka, one of Lowell’s middles, finished with a team-high 17 kills, while Qi, the other middle, totaled 14.

“Our middles have been our go-to’s all season,” Sung said. “The pins have been stepping up, and the right side has been showing up. … They just did amazing.”

Radeff did her best to put the Gators on her shoulders in what would amount to the last varsity match of her high school career. The senior outside hitter finished with a match-high 21 kills, and produced two clutch blocks, one in the fourth set and one in the fifth.

“Elena is the kind of person who is always going to go all out for every ball,” Bonifacio said. “You could really tell in the last set that she knew this could be her last game. So, she was going all out for it. And even though our team just got tired, we all wanted it so badly.”

SHP led by as many as 3 points in Game 4 at 16-13. Once Lowell caught up, the two teams played point for point until the Gators took a 21-20 advantage on a back-row kill by Radeff. Lowell sophomore Heather Liu followed with a left-side kill to tie it, igniting a monumental 4-0 run to force set point. SHP got one back when Smith tooled a block to close it to 24-22, but on the following rally the Gators were called for a lift to give the set to the Cardinals.

Game 1 was a preview of the tenacity Lowell would carry throughout the night. SHP enjoyed a 19-13 lead late in the opening set, only to see the Cardinals respond with a 6-0 run. The set went into extra-points, with the Gators forcing five set points before finally closing it out a service ace by Muir.

Smith added 15 kills for SHP, while junior middle Mele Langi had eight kills and two blocks.

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Sacred Heart Schools Atherton

Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton

150 Valparaiso Ave
Atherton, CA 94027
650 322 1866
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12