Three top seeds were defeated in the Northern California region as the final eight teams pushed their way through to this week's 2000 Hyundai California Community College Women's Volleyball Championships at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, Dec. 1-3.
The only team from the north stil standing that was expected to be playing this weekend is the top-seeded host squad from San Joaquin Delta, who is ranked third in the state behind Golden West and Long Beach City.
Undefeated Cabrillo, the NorCal’s seventh seed and rated No. 15 in the state, downed sixth-ranked and No. 2 seeded Fresno in five games. Delta (top-seed NorCal, state No. 3), Santa Rosa (5th seed, 12th ranked), and Butte (No. 6 seed, 13th ranked), also advanced to the championships.
In the South, all four top seeds advanced with seven-time defending state champion Golden West (top seed, and No. 1-ranked), Long Beach City (No. 2 seed, ranked second), Moorpark (No. 3 seed, 4th rated), and Ventura (fourth seed, 5th rated) going to Stockton.
Cabrillo’s victory over Fresno was a thriller. The Coast Conference champions went the distance over the powerful Central Valley champs, 15-3, 10-15, 14-16, 15-11,
16-14. Santa Rosa upended No. 4 seed and fellow Bay Valley Blue Division foe Yuba in five games, 15-12, 8-15, 5-15, 15-11, 15-12. In a battle of the Golden Valley co-champions, Butte swept No. 3 seed Shasta, 15-7, 15-2, 16-14.
Ventura avenged last season’s defeat in the second round against Irvine Valley as the Pirates barely turned the tables on the Lasers this time, coming back from the brink of elimination in a five-game war, 15-13, 15-12, 14-16, 10-15, 15-13. Ventura trailed 6-1 in the rally-scoring fifth game, but came back strongly to win it.
Moorpark made it 21 straight victories (after losing its season-opener to Golden West) by downing feisty Orange Coast, 15-1, 15-6, 6-15, 17-15. The Raiders, the Western State Conference North champions, were led by Carina Nusinov with 27 kills and Toni-Ann Merendino with 15 kills and a match-high 24 digs. Orange Coast, ninth-ranked in the state and sixth seed in the South, saved 11 match points in the fourth game before succumbing. OCC was led by Lauren Wilson with 22 kills.
Golden West (23-0) and Long Beach (18-0) proved why they appear to be heads above the rest going into the state championships. The mighty Rustlers made it 88 consecutive victories dating back to 1997 with a rout over eighth seed and No. 14-ranked Cuesta, 15-1, 15-3, 15-2. Grace Boyd led the Rustlers with eight kills.
Long Beach, the South Coast champions the past six seasons, crushed its SCC arch foe, 10th-ranked Cerritos, 15-4, 15-3, 15-2. It was the third time this season that Long Beach beat Cerritos, which finished 15-4 overall.
Of the eight teams that advanced to the state tourney, Golden West, Delta, and Butte are the only returning participants from last year’s finals. Six conference champions advanced along with two second-place teams, Ventura and Santa Rosa. Showing the overall strength of the SoCal’s Western State North Division, four different teams Moorpark, Ventura, Santa Barbara (’99 state runner-up) and Cuesta (a ’99 finalist) have made it to the state championships in the past two seasons.
This Friday, the Hyundai Championships open with four matches at Delta’s two host gymnasiums. The pairings in the double-elimination tournament are as follows:
S2-Long Beach City (18-0) vs. N3-Butte (19-2), 6 p.m.(Marcopulos Gym)
N2-Santa Rosa (19-4) vs. S3-Moorpark (21-1), 6 p.m. (Blanchard Gym)
S1-Golden West (23-0) vs. N4-Cabrillo (18-0), 8 p.m. (Marcopulos Gym)
N1-San Joaquin Delta (21-2) vs. S4-Ventura (18-3), 8 p.m. (Blancard Gym)
