Div. V: Berean Christian (25-9) (North Coast Section) d. Victory Christian (35-8) (San Diego Section), 25-18, 14-25, 15-25, 25-21, 17-15, Friday, 4 p.m.
Berean Christian had just been throttled, 25-15, by Victory Christian in Game 3, after having experienced a similar beat down in Game 2. The Knights were taller, more athletic, had all the momentum and all the confidence of a 19-match unbeaten streak when they moved ahead in Game 4, 17-15. Just eight more points and they would be first to be crowned state champions in the first of six title tilts to be contested on the weekend at Santiago Canyon College in Orange…
Berean Christian had been here before. In Round II of the NorCal Div. V regionals, the Eagles defeated Big Valley Christian, 17-15 in the fifth, in a match where every set could have gone the other way. They won in five again in the regional semifinals, rallying from two sets down to drop top-seeded Skyline of Oakland, 16-14 in the final set. The regional finals also went five before Berean Christian took out Hanford, 15-10 in the fifth.
That Berean Christian was down and on the brink was nothing new.
“We’ve lived this,” said head coach Lucas Abbott. “These girls never quit. They fight, fight, fight.”
Berean Christian rallied to win Game 4, aided by ace serves from libero Rebeca Freitas and OH Annasophia Vranjes and capped by a kill from freshman middle Marley Seelye assisted by Aunyka Uresti.
The match was now tied at two sets apiece.
All that remained was a sprint in a short set to determine which team would claim its first-ever California state championship. Just a few points and a fingertip or two to separate cheers from tears…
***
Victory Christian scored the first point of the final set, as junior OH Kealoha Phillips, one of three newcomers to the team; striped the end line with a confident swing, set up by senior Miranda Kaack.
Berean Christian tried to match Victory Christian with a big swing of its own, but the ball sailed long.
If this is how the set was going to go, with teams trying to trade blow for blow, Victory Christian surely would prevail. The Knights were not a typical Div. V squad. They had two tall, left side hammers in Phillips and senior Saren Rogers. Sofia Velasco, on the right, also was tall and could swing it. It’s an impressive trio for any team in Div. V, let alone one that was under .500 a year ago.
“If you give us the ball, we’re going to abuse you,” said Victory Christian coach Aaron Simmons.
Down 2-0, Abbott was counting on his Berean Christian team not to freak out.
“We belong in every gym,” the coach explained. “If we stay calm, consistent, and confident, we’re good. A lot of teams when they’re down they freak out. I’ve drilled in them that we don’t freak out. We don’t get too high or too low; we stay the course.”
Berean Christian worked its way back into the set by leaning on its strengths: serving, passing, and setting. Vranjes scored an ace to knot the score at 2-2. Another great serve gave the ball back to Berean, which took the lead when Sophie Hall split the block with a nice swing.
“It was our last game so why not just put it all on the court?” Freitas explained. “That’s what I kept saying to the girls.”
The power of Rogers out of the pipe tied things up again at 3-3. The intensity was ratcheting up!
Berean Christian, which lost in the North Coast Section Div. V semifinals to eventual champion Urban; scored twice, including another kill from Hall after Seelye’s serve produced an overpass; to go up 5-3.
Victory Christian countered with four of its own. It started when Phillips took a bump set from Kaack and earned a side out by beating a triple block.
Down for the second time in the set, Berean got successive Hall kills, one a sweet tip to the donut; to square the set at 7-7. No team led by more than a point until a Velasco kill and Berean hitting error gave Victory Christian two championship points at 14-12. Hall saved one with her sixth kill of the set. That sent the freshman, Seelye, back to serve again.
ACE!!!
“I just had to stay calm,” Seelye said. “My captains were telling me, ‘You’ve got to keep it in!’”
Another tough serve by Seelye led to another Hall kill. Berean Christian now had match point!
The Eagles had lots of swings to lay claim to their first title, but Victory Christian was determined to extend the match. The ball came back over time and again, the last time on a stunning solo block from sophomore middle Maya Stinson. The set was tied again, 15-15.
This game could have gone forever and those without a rooting interest would have been happy. It was that high quality!
Hall scored on a tip – her eighth kill in the shortened fifth set – to give Berean another match point – its second. Victory Christian was set to gain the equalizer when an overpass found a Victory Christian attacker eager to put the ball away with no block up.
She wound up being a little too eager.
The ball sailed just long, giving Berean Christian the two-point margin it needed to be state champions. The Eagles showed just enough grit, just enough heart, to outlast an opponent that wanted it just as badly as they did.
“After Game 4, we knew we’ve gone five sets the whole state tournament,” Uresti said. “We knew we do better under pressure. We leaned on each other and remembered why we played.”
“I want to praise Victory,” Abbott said. “They put up a heck of a fight. They are well coached with good athletes…an amazing team to go up against in this state championship match. A lot of the credit goes to them for this amazing experience we had. In athletic contests you come out with a winner and a non-winner; so I’m very proud of these girls to come out on the ‘W’ side.”
“That was probably the best match we’ve played,” said Rogers, who led Victory Christian with 27 kills and 19 digs. “We put the work in. Everyone wanted it really bad. We were all working as a team and working for the same goal.”
That goal seemed within Victory Christian’s grasp after dominating wins in the second and third sets put the Knights one set from the title.
Berean Christian had won the first set doing what it did best: digging everything behind Freitas, a sensational senior libero; setting in tempo and with intelligence and finding open court and ways to scrap for points. Freitas and Uresti each had eight digs in the set. Uresti added nine assists.
But Victory Christian was at its best in Games 2 and 3. They were jumping high, hitting hard and using their size and athleticism to impose their will on the Eagles.
“I felt like I had them,” Simmons said.
The stats show that Victory Christian led in kills, hitting percentage, assists, aces, and blocks.
“When you look at that, where’s the heart?” Abbott asked.
That could be found in the will to win, the willingness to sell out even when things looked bleakest. Berean Christian believed and figured out a way.
That being said, Victory Christian could as easily have been the team raising the bigger trophy on Friday evening.
“It was a good game; we just didn’t come out on top,” Simmons noted. “We were in the right positions; we did the right things. Just a few inches…Unfortunately, they scored two more points than us. If it was a game to 25 maybe it could have been different.
“I don’t really think we could have done better. In games like this that go to five sets and then over, it could be the flip of a coin.”
Hall’s 18 kills and 12 digs led the victors. Uresti had 34 assists and 13 digs. Freitas had a match-high 23 digs and five assists.
For Victory Christian, Phillips complimented Rogers’ big match with 18 kills and 17 digs of her own, plus four aces. Kaack had 41 assists. Libero Ayame Ebato led the back row with 20 digs.
Simmons talked to his team directly in the post-game press conference. He told them to enjoy the experience rather than lament that things did not break their way at the end.
“You got to be a part of something big,” he explained. “Just because the score didn’t work out that’s not a big thing. You’ve created a life accomplishment. You’ve been a part of something that’s enormous. I want to thank you. Congratulations.”