Mira Costa avenged an earlier loss to Redondo coming from behind to defeat the host Sea Hawks 25-23, 23-25, 19-25, 25-23, 15-13 Tuesday night in the latest of classic matches played between the rivals.
The gave Mira Costa a share of the Bay League championship after Redondo had held the title for the last three seasons.
Mira Costa was coming off an impressive performance at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions last weekend where they went 3-1 for a fifth-place finish. The showing moved Mira Costa up into No. 4 spot of the latest CIF-Southern Section Division 1AA poll that was released Monday.
Redondo, who had swept Mira Costa in the first meeting between the teams, had regained the No. 1 position in division 1AA after winning its own Varsity Power Classic tournament.
“It was a great night and one our entire team will remember for many many years,” Mira Costa head coach Hayley Lawson-Blanchard said. “We have been working hard on both the physical and mental aspects of our game since the first match with Redondo, and last night’s win was the culmination of all of their hard work. In a five set match you have to depend on the whole team, and everyone stepped up and did their job.”
The fifth set was a see-saw battle before Mira Costa scored three straight points to beat Redondo for the first time in four seasons.
Amanda Montag led Mira Costa with 18 kills and Emma Smith, the defending Bay League Libero of the Year, had 35 digs to help keep Redondo’s high-power offense at bay.
A five-point run gave Mira Costa 17-17 tie in the first set before the Mustangs pulled out the 25-23 win.
Redondo responded with three-time All-CIF setter Norene Iosia and hard swinging Megan Rice connecting to lead the Sea Hawks who won the next two games.
Mira Costa held a five-point lead in the fourth set but Redondo rallied, fighting off two set points before a service error gave the Mustangs the win and momentum going into the final set.
“Both Megan and Norene did a fantastic job, but looked physically and mentally drained by the end of the match, and made errors they don’t normally make,” Lawson-Blanchard added.
Along with bragging rights and a share of the league title, the match also had playoff implications when seedings and brackets will be announced Friday at cifss.org.
Mira Costa proved it is among the top teams in the state after an impressive performance in Santa Barbara where the 16-team tournament included nine of the top 20-ranked teams in the state.
Mira Costa entered the tournament ranked No. 14 in the state and, after sweeping Westview 25-12, 25-17, 25-21, the Mustangs gave third-ranked Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) all it could handle in a 27-25, 25-23, 27-29, 27-25 loss.
Dropping into the fifth-place bracket, Mira Costa swept the No. 11 and No. 7 ranked teams in the state – St. Francis (Mountain View) and Presentation (San Jose).
Mira Costa junior right side hitter Britt Bommer was named to the All-Tournament team.
“Britt played stellar and overall, we played well the entire weekend, but couldn’t finish against Mitty,” Mira Costa head coach Hayley Lawson-Blanchard said. “Mitty is always a great team, but a few small differences here and there and we win that match in three. We had been pushing the girls hard leading up to both this past weekend and last night, and it was so rewarding to see what all the girls’ hard work led to. And we aren’t resting now, just back in the gym to keep at it for our next goal of bringing a CIF championship back to Costa.”
The loss to Mira Costa was only the third of the season – and a wake-up call – for defending CIF and State champion Redondo, who won its own tournament last Saturday with a 25-21, 24-26, 15-12 win over Coronado.
Ranked No. 6 in the state by MaxPreps, the Sea Hawks reached the championship match after defeating Rancho Cucamonga 25-22, 25-14, Village Christian 25-22, 25-18 and Long Beach Poly 25-20, 25-18.
Iosia and Rice were Co-MVPs of the tournament and teammates Kacey Baker, Katie Barkley and Amanda Tsao were selected to the All-Tournament team.
