RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — At the start of the girls volleyball season, Mater Dei’s players set a goal to win the team’s eighth consecutive Trinity League title and to do it by sweeping every league opponent.
The Monarchs put an exclamation point on the regular season Wednesday by wrapping up another league title with a sweep of Santa Margarita, 25-13, 25-10, 25-20, at Santa Margarita High School.
The Monarchs (35-2, 8-0), who are ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps, are expected to be the No. 1 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. The playoff pairings will be released Saturday morning.
As one of the eight teams to be placed in the elite Division 1 bracket, the Monarchs will also receive an automatic spot in the CIF State Tournament.
The Monarchs lost only three sets in eight league matches and are riding a 15-game league winning streak into the playoffs.
Mater Dei’s last league defeat came in their first league match of the 2022 season against Santa Margarita.
“I think we have a really good senior class,” Mater Dei coach Dan O’Dell said. “When you have a really good senior group who sets the tone for the level, and they’re out there and they’re performing, it’s something that everyone’s bought into and everyone’s trying to reach that same level.”
The Monarchs got contributions from some of those seniors against the Eagles (16-10, 3-5).
Setter Julia Kakkas, who is headed to Brown, led Mater Dei with 31 assists.
Stanford commit Malyssa Cawa had 13 kills and senior Tessa Hurley served five aces.
The scoring leader for the Monarchs was hard-swinging sophomore Layli Ostovar, who finished with 16 kills, most coming from the left side.
Memphis Burnett and Brooklyn Drumright led the Eagles with nine and six kills. respectively.
The Monarchs won all three sets by opening up big leads early and not letting up.
Ostovar’s cross-court kill gave Mater Dei a 12-4 lead in the first set.
The Monarchs closed out the set with a 7-1 run, with Ostovar getting the final point on a kill from the left side.
In the second set, Isabel Clark (University of San Diego commit) held serve for the Monarchs’ first seven points with two points on aces.
The Eagles battled back from an 11-point deficit in the third set to get within three points at 23-20.
But the Monarchs put the set and the match away on Ostovar’s cross-court kill and Clark’s kill from the left side for the final point.
“Winning the (Southern Section) is now the next part of the goal,” O’ Dell said. “We’ll go in as the No. 1 seed, but it will not be easy. I think there’s a lot of seeds that will come up and will be ready for an upset and we’ll have a big bullseye on our backs.”
The Monarchs’ only defeats this season were to Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach and Cathedral Catholic of San Diego.
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