Heading into its CIF-Southern Section Division 9 quarterfinal match against Rancho Christian of Temecula, Santa Clarita Christian volleyball had one thing on its mind: defense.
“We just knew that we needed to improve on the stuff that has been hurting us league and just work on better cover off blocker defense and just regular defense in general,” said Kalona Marr.
The Cardinals stuck to that game plan to take down the Eagles 3-1 at home on Saturday.
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SCCS (18-6, 6-4 in Heritage League) captured a 27-25 win in Game 1, but fell 17-25 in Game 2.
The Cards quickly moved on from the loss mentally to reverse the score of the previous game for a 25-18 win over the Eagles (23-5, 9-1 in South Valley League) in the third game.
“We just kept telling ourselves that we had nothing to lose,” Marr said. “We’ve come this far and we just needed to work hard and keep going. Just have a next-ball mentality.”
The performances of Marr (15 kills, 13 digs) and fellow pin Aaronya Crosswhite (14 kills, nine digs) pushed SCCS to a 25-16 win in the fourth and final game to seal the win.
Additionally, setter Megan Dombrowski had 34 assists.
“We really came together as a team tonight and it showed in the final score,” said Marr.
The Cardinals will play Mammoth in the CIF-SS Division 9 semifinals at home on Tuesday. The time is yet to be decided.
