Div. II: Chaminade (39-2) (Southern Section) d. Clovis North (28-11) (Central Section), 25-19, 13-25, 25-19, 25-22, Saturday, 4 p.m.

Keira Brady had four kills late in Game 4, including the title clincher, to propel Chaminade past Clovis North in the CIF State Division II championship match. The Eagles won their first-ever state title under first-year coach CJ Suarez.

“This moment is very special to us,” Suarez said. “We faced a lot of adversity this year, but we supported and played for each other and left it all on the court.”

Chaminade won the first set, got destroyed in the second, rallied from an early deficit to take the third, and won a toss-up fourth set to take the division in a matchup of teams that lost in their section semifinals. Chaminade served twice as many aces in the match and Brady, who had 21 kills, collected one more kill than Clovis North’s top two kill leaders combined. Other than that, not much separated the teams.

“We knew going in that this was going to be a coin flip,” said Clovis North head coach Travis Herb. “As we were scouting we were looking at pretty close to mirror images of ourselves. It was going to come down to a few key plays. It was not our night. I’d love to play them (again) right now. It could go the other way because the teams are that close.”

Chaminade set the tone for the match with a 25-19 opening-set win. The Eagles took advantage of three straight missed serves by Clovis North to stay within reach early, then went ahead, 11-9, on a 5-0 run that included a Brady ace, block from Daniella Ayala, and two pre-serve infractions on the Broncos for being out of rotation at the serve.

“We had a few mental mistakes,” Herb said. “It was a really tightly called game. I’m of the mindset that you let the kids play more. The worst sound is the sound of a referee’s whistle in the middle of a great rally.”

Clovis North re-grouped and responded with a 5-0 run of its own. Kennedy Lingenfelter’s kill, set up by Kyra Miller, provided the tying point at 12-12. Cayla Sutton’s block, which made it 14-12 Broncos, proceeded a crazy play that included scrambles on both sides of the net until the ball finally dropped in North’s favor.

Now down by three, Chaminade trumped Clovis North’s rally with an 11-2 run of its own to pull away for good. Brady starred early in the rally with three kills and a block. Auden Gofberg was the catalyst late. She put Chaminade on top, 18-17, on an off-speed shot out of the middle, then served five straight, including an ace, as Clovis North’s passing started to falter. By the time Chaminade’s run was over, the Eagles’ lead was six, 23-17, and not even a kill and ace from Lingenfelter could prevent the set from ending up in Chaminade’s column.

Clovis North rebounded to the Game 1 loss with its best set of the year. Peyton Bitter and Morgan Wilson had four kills each, Miller had 12 assists and libero Siena Falk had seven digs in a set the Broncos led start to finish without ever being seriously threatened.

Clovis North kept that momentum to start the third and led, 7-4, on Bitter’s sizzling seam shot. Chaminade got a side out from Gabia Paliulis and eventually went ahead on successive Katelyn Stratton aces. The Eagles got one more Stratton ace in the midst of the long run, which ended with Chaminade holding a 15-8 lead. Clovis North closed within 19-16 on a combo block from Lingenfelter and Cayla Sutton, but Ayala’s scoring tip out of a timeout, followed by a Clovis North error, put the Eagles back in control. Bitter tried to spark the Broncos late, with two nice kills and an ace, but Stratton countered with two nice swings, including the game-winner off of a sweet Danit Cohen set.

The fourth set started off tight, befitting teams that looked like one another. Bitter and Ava Rogers were early catalysts for North. Paliulis and Brady were making things happen for Chaminade.

Tied at 12-12, Brady scored cross court to put Chaminade up by a point.

The Eagles never let Clovis North tie up the set again.

Four times, the Broncos managed to close the gap to a single point. Each time Chaminade responded, the last at 19-18, when Brady got the benefit of a touch call to score the first of two kills in a row. Another Brady kill, made possible by a nice dig from libero Kristin Alvandian; followed by a Clovis North hitting error, extended Chaminade’s lead to four, which felt imposing so late in the set. Lingenfelter twice staved off defeat with clutch swings, which had Clovis North dreaming about a fifth set.

“This team has been gritty all year long,” Herb said. “It certainly would have been interesting to go to a fifth set. I like our chances in a fifth set.”

It was not to be.

Brady took one last swing. Her 21st kill eluded the Bronco defense and fell for a point she will never forget. Chaminade was a State Champion!

“I’m very impressed with the other team,” Herb said.

“We made them do some uncomfortable things,” said Suarez. “We were our own worst enemy and also our best strength.”

 Miller had 39 assists, eight digs, and three blocks for Clovis North in the loss. Bitter had 10 kills for the Broncos from the left side. Middles Lingenfelter and Wilson teamed for 19 kills, with Lingenfelter adding four blocks. Rogers and Falk combined for 25 digs.

“Our best volleyball was the second set,” Herb said. “That’s when we were firing on all cylinders. I felt like the other team did a really good job of putting pressure on us and getting us out of system. I think we would have liked to get the ball more to our middles. They were doing a good job scoring. We finally started to figure out our hitters and getting blocks that I thought would be momentum changers. Congrats to them for sticking with it and not being affected by those.”

Asked what she was going to remember most about the season. Miller answered this way: “I’m going to remember the team and the memories I made. We played hard we played tough. That’s what you’re going to remember. The wins and the losses don’t really mean anything in the future. What matters are the memories, the connections, and  bonds you made with your teammates.”

Brady led Chaminade with 21 kills, eight digs, and four aces. Cohit had 41 assists and 10 digs. Alvandian chipped in 17 digs, two assists, and an ace.

Last year, Chaminade started 36-0 before losing to Oaks Christian in a Southern Section semifinal. The Eagles then lost their coach, graduated two top pins, and won state one year later.

You never know…

“We’re a much better team than we were last year when we thought we were going to win it all,” Cohen said. “This year we faced so many obstacles and overcame them all.”

After the team lost to Oaks Christian in the semis again this year, Cohen thought, in her head,  “That really sucks!”  -- but looking at the brackets I knew we could come together and do it.”

“At first I was bummed that we couldn’t win CIF Southern Section,” Cohen added, “but coming here and winning a State D-II Championship…I’d take that any day over a CIF Southern Section title.”