Olympian a four-time champ in volleyball; SFC wins Div. II

A seven-match losing streak early in the season and a No. 7 seed in the CIF girls volleyball playoffs are usually not part of the formula for a championship.

But this Olympian team isn’t your normal squad.

The Eagles instead are now four-time CIF champions.

Olympian used a consistent attack and relentless defensive effort to secure its first title since winning three straight from 2014 to ’16 with a 20-25, 25-10, 25-21, 25-21 win over El Camino in the Division III championship match Saturday at Montgomery.

“I tell my girls all the time that defense wins games,” Olympian coach Yvette Macias said. “We love a big offense, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to pick up that ball.”

The Eagles (23-15) were led by middle Jade Araujo’s 13 kills. Annabelle Johnson and Nyssa Dickson each had nine, and Tierrah Santana and Annette Olaoye each had seven. Olaoye also added five stuff blocks.

The Wildcats were in control to start the match, up 20-11. They would go on to win 25-20, but the armor of the No. 1 seed began to crack.

“Something about us is that we just don’t remind ourselves of the past; we think of the future when we’re playing,” senior libero Keilana Cruz said. “That can impact our mental aspect. And so when we moved on to the next set, we thought about it as 0-0, stay confident in your team and bring each other up because it’s not over yet.”

El Camino (30-12) was led by Grace Houston, who had 13 kills. Brooke Stark added 12 kills with two stuff blocks.

“I told our team at the end, don’t diminish the accomplishments that we had this year,” El Camino coach Alex Pukahi said. “We won 30-plus games. We won league. We made it here from a program that doesn’t have a lot of club players. So to not hold their heads down. We had a great season, and I’m proud of that.”

A slim 11-9 Eagles lead quickly turned into 17-10 in set two. They scored nine straight to finish the set. Set three saw the Wildcats take a 19-18 lead, but a 5-0 run and three Araujo kills down the stretch lifted the Eagles.

The Eagles appeared ready to close it out with a 9-2 lead in set four until the Wildcats ran off eight straight. But Dickson and Olaoye were too strong at the net. They combined for nine points in the set.

Macias was the starting libero on Olympian’s three championship teams.

“It’s a full-circle moment for me,” Macias said. “It’s been a while since our program got this far. Our girls found out what it means to be consistent. We’re talented. We just needed the right motivation to be where we needed to be.”

In the Division II championship match, top-seeded Santa Fe Christian used a well-rounded attack led by freshman Nariah Johnson’s 19 kills to take down No. 2 Patrick Henry, 25-12, 25-13, 25-19.

The Eagles (19-11) led almost the entire match with Johnson and a powerful offense out of the middle. The senior tandem of Mali Carroll and Autumn Ermanis combined for eight kills and four stuff blocks.

“We weren’t going to them as much at the beginning of the season, and we talked about it,” Santa Fe Christian coach Megan Lawley said. “If we want to win a championship, we’ve got to use our middles. So the last few practices we’ve been really testing them and making them work harder, making sure they’re up and available. They did an incredible job today.”

Freshman Brooklyn Cameron contributed nine kills.

The Patriots (27-13) were led by senior outside Alyssa Chu with 12 kills. Ellie Scribner added six, and Ashlan Daniels chipped in with four.

“Regardless of results, I’m extremely proud of the work it took to get here,” Patrick Henry coach David Chau said. “Coming into the season I had a feeling we had a chance. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I knew we had a shot to be in this competition.”