Torrey Pines beats Cathedral Catholic for Southern California Invitational title

There were 46 teams at this weekend’s Southern California Invitational Girls Volleyball Tournament, including five of the top six teams in the Union-Tribune’s top-10 poll.

When the dust settled and the championship was played, it was yet another round in the Torrey Pines-Cathedral Catholic rivalry.

And the conclusion is clear: Torrey Pines is the best team in the county.

The Falcons rose to the challenge all weekend, sweeping the Dons, 25-23, 25-18 to capture the championship hosted by Westview and played at Alliant University.

“We’ve been working on learning how to train to become a winner,” said Torrey Pines coach Brennan Dean, whose team didn’t drop a set all weekend. “We know that winning is a skill, and there’s no better way to practice than to put ourselves in really challenging situations. We’re by no means perfect at it or have mastered the skill, but it’s something we talk about. Just relentless with our defense, forgetting about plays and trying to stay in the moment.”

Senior Finley Krystkowiak and junior Jaycee Mack are not only powerful arms on the outside, but their consistency in handling serve receive brings a calmness to the Falcons (27-4), ranked sixth in the nation by MaxPreps.

Mack had nine kills and a stuff block against the Dons while Krystkowiak was a force with seven kills.

“I’m definitely still working on it, but our serve receive and passing hasn’t been hitting on all aspects, but I think once we get that 100 percent, we’re going to be unstoppable,” said Krystkowiak, who is headed to defending national champion Penn State in the fall. “Our practices have been a big key. Brennan pushes us, and today we showed we can push ourselves.”

Cathedral Catholic (21-7) graduated its big hitter in Mae Kordas, but the Dons are getting offensive contributions from a plethora of players. They had three players with at least four kills in the final — middle blocker Allison Dzieciuch (six), opposite hitter Sophia Johnson (five) and outside hitter Jojo Wilson (four). Outside hitter Madyson McCarthy (three) and middle blocker Kensley Hennessy (three) were also big contributors.

The Dons lost the first set in the semifinals to No. 3 Coronado, 25-20, but came back to win the match, 25-15, 15-8.

“We played super well (Friday) and started the day great today, but I think the long day and the heat got the best of us,” Dons coach Juliana Conn said. “We came out super flat against Coronado but had enough time to turn things around and beat them. But we have to be our best to beat TP this year as they have a more consistent offense. I am still pretty happy to make it to the finals and proud of the girls for hanging in there.”

The Islanders (28-7) celebrated not only a tie for third, but also saw sophomore outside hitter Ashlynn Proctor record her 1,000th career kill and senior libero Avalon Haro notch her 1,300th career dig.

San Marcos (18-10) was the only other local team to finish in platinum, finishing in a tie for fifth. Westview (20-9) finished tied for fifth in diamond, while Otay Ranch (20-12), La Jolla (10-19), San Dieguito Academy (8-20) and Rancho Bernardo (11-13) all tied for fifth in the gold.

In the second set of the championship, the Dons didn’t score more than two consecutive points.

It’s that consistent side-out game that has the Falcons feeling like they’ll avenge losing the Open Division the last four years to their rival down the street.

“I think there’s a little extra oomph to get it done because we lost to them so many years,” said Mack, a Baylor commit. “We lost to them at this tournament last year, so it’s nice. I think it’s going to be us two (in the Open Division championship).”