It was sweet, sweet redemption for Canyon girls’ volleyball. The Cowboys are headed to the CIF Division 5 championship match after sweeping the Valencia Vikings.
Valencia had beaten Canyon twice this season in league play, but the Cowboys took Saturday’s home playoff match, 25-20, 25-23 and 26-24.
The Cowboys trailed in every set, including multiple large deficits in the second, but simply refused to go down easy.
“I’m so pumped,” said Canyon coach Samantha Holcombe. “I’m so proud of my girls. They’ve worked so hard all season. We’re at match like 40 at this point but there’s no giving up.”
Valencia also showed grit and improved in every set. The Vikings trailed 24-21 in the final set before firing off three straight to force deuce. Middle blocker Makayla Garcia fueled the run with two consecutive kills.
Tied at 24-24, Canyon struck to set up match point off an explosive kill from middle blocker Olivia Turner.
Turner was all over the net throughout the contest and tallied five kills and four blocks.
“Our block during the last few games has been way better than it was in the regular season,” Holcombe said. “It’s a good opportunity to score points … Turner has been on when it comes to blocking. She’s come out of her shell a little bit, she’s a little more mature now in her second year of varsity. She’s only a sophomore.”
Canyon had a golden ticket with one of its best servers Layla Tejeda heading to the endline just needing one point and the Cowboys captain delivered. Tejeda didn’t get the ace but fired in one of her numerous shifty serves that was sent wild off the first touch. Valencia nearly recovered but just couldn’t return the ball ending the night and pushing the serve-savvy Canyon Cowboys into the championship match.
“I just told them we’ve been playing really good volleyball for the past month and that’s going to carry us into being an entirely different team than the first time we played them,” Holcombe said. “We came out on fire, confident, we were moving the ball around to multiple hitters and it just worked.”
Junior Parys Taylor led Canyon with 11 kills and was one of four Cowboys to come away with at least two blocks.
“The game plan was to go all out,” Taylor said. “Go all out for every ball and give everything.”
Canyon held Valencia out of system for a majority of the first set. The Cowboys were still in a tight battle for the first game before libero Mary Audish led a big run from the end line with her serving. Audish was steady all night highlighted by her 16 digs and led the 7-0 run to put Canyon up 20-13 a few plays before Turner put down her only kill of the game for set point.
The Vikings came out with much better energy in the second and quickly went up 10-4. Sophomore Emily Jones subbed in for the final two sets at the outside spot and gave the Vikings a boost with six kills.
More hitting errors cost the Vikings a chance to pull away and the Cowboys rallied. Setter Theone Nguyen added an ace two plays before a Breanna Flanary kill tied the score at 19-19. Taylor then hit three kills in crunch time to push Canyon to a 2-0 lead.
Nguyen was one of the many Cowboys with two blocks but also made a difference with her passing as she got her hand down fast enough for two pancake digs on the night.
Canyon has led 2-0 in multiple matches this postseason, including Wednesday’s five-set win over Flintridge Prep.
“We weren’t going to have another situation like we did on Wednesday,” Holcombe said. “I told them it was all mental going into the third set. We just need to keep playing clean, crisp volleyball.”
Valencia again took an early lead before Canyon started chipping away. The Cowboys found holes in the Vikings defense via tipped hits as numerous soft touches found the open floor on the Valencia side.
Audish sparked another scoring run with two aces, one of which came off the tape of the net, to put the Cowboys up 18-15.
Valencia’s hitting errors piled on throughout the night and coach Kristin Dolan believes the team never got into rhythm.
“I don’t think we ever found that rhythm tonight,” Dolan said. “I feel like we’re constantly searching for it, and we saw glimpses of it, and then we would tighten back up again. I’ve got a young team too. There’s a lot of young kids on this team, and it was a great experience for all of them, and a lasting memory.”
The Vikings aren’t done just yet and will head into the state regional tournament for the first time in nine seasons.
“I think we’re gonna get to where it is a motivation for us for states but we’re not there yet,” Dolan said. “I’m gonna let them have their moment. They need to have their moment. They need to feel it. And then I think we’ll be able to learn from it, and then hopefully turn it into something going into the state tournaments. Even in that game, they looked motivated, they wanted to win. They were working hard. So I don’t think we’re done yet.”
The Canyon gym was packed for the semifinals contest and the Cowboys student section showed up to support their volleyball squad.
“I remember last year saying how I wish the crowd was like how basketball games are, because basketball gets packed, and it actually came true,” Taylor said. “It’s really exciting to have all that energy here. It keeps us going and motivated.”
Canyon will need to find its own motivation on the road as the team now has one week to prepare for its CIF championship match with the Corona Panthers. The Cowboys will find out in the next few days whether they’re making the two-plus-hour trek down to Corona or taking the court for a neutral site.
The Cowboys went just 10-17 last year and 8-19-2 before that. The senior core has worked to get better and led the way for a talented wave of underclassmen on the roster.
“Since we’ve lost so much in the past, it’s hard to build momentum,” Turner said. “We’ve had to, together as a team, just play our game of volleyball because we can do it regardless and it’s shown in these games we’ve played. We just need to focus and lock in on our abilities.”
Either way, the magical season isn’t over yet as Canyon has now won six straight and will play for the program’s first ever CIF title.
“I’m stoked we have a week to prepare,” Holcombe said. “I don’t know much about the team we’re playing but we’re going to take it one point and one set at a time and play Canyon volleyball.”
Gallery below: Photos by Habeba Mostafa/The Signal
