SANTA ANA — The Mater Dei girls volleyball team is going back to the CIF Southern Section finals.
The Monarchs swept Sierra Canyon, 25-15, 25-15, 25-20, Saturday night to book their place in the Division 1 final.
They made their last finals appearance in 2021 and are trying to win their first CIF-SS title since 2018.
Mater Dei (39-2) did not drop a set during its three pool play matches, beating Palos Verdes and Marymount before sweeping the Trailblazers, who won the title in 2022.
No. 1-seeded Mater Dei will face No. 2 seed Mira Costa in the final on Saturday, Nov. 4, at Cerritos College.
Monarchs coach Dan O’Dell said his team’s motivation to become champions has been a key factor in the postseason.
“I think after last year, this team really wanted to make sure they could get back there,” O’Dell said. “We knew we had the talent to do it, we just knew we had to make sure we could perform, and these girls have really stepped up. I couldn’t be more proud of the way they’ve played the last couple of matches.”
Senior outside hitter Izzy Clark had a game-high 17 kills and 12 digs, fellow outside hitter Layli Ostovar added 15 kills and Michigan commit Cymarah Gordon finished with 11 kills.
“I think those three pins, between Layli, Izzy and Cymarah, are just, they’ve been pretty amazing these past few matches,” O’Dell said. “All three of them have been just absolute studs. It’s been fantastic to see, and if we’re going to have all three of those girls on, we’re very hard to stop.”
Setter Julia Kakkis controlled the tempo of the match with 45 assists.
“We go pretty fast out there, so it’s really tough to block when you can put the speed over there,” O’Dell said.
Ostovar had seven of her 15 kills in the opening set as the Monarchs constantly found success attacking from the left side.
“She was great and she had outstanding numbers again tonight,” O’Dell said of Ostovar.
Sierra Canyon (34-8) fared much better in the third set with an attack led by Danica Rach and Hanna McGinest and was within two points late in the set before Mater Dei pulled away.
Mater Dei has split its two meetings with the Mira Costa this season.
“Mira Costa is a great team, their coach is a great coach, they’ll be well prepared,” O’Dell said. “It’s just gonna come down to who can execute the best on the biggest stage. It should be a very fun, very close, even match.”