NEW State Girls VB Top 20

Another of this week’s newcomers is defending NorCal D1 champ St. Francis of Sacramento, which handed Rocklin its first loss last week and then made it to the final of Archbishop Mitty’s tournament. Photo: Courtesy of school.

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It’s pretty hard not to reward a team that defeated four ranked teams to win a major tournament so it wasn’t difficult in moving up previous No. 7 Mater Dei of Santa Ana to No. 1 in this week’s new CalHiSports.com Top 20 State Rankings for girls volleyball.

The Monarchs won the Dave Mohs tourney in Huntington Beach on Monday night in three games (it was 15-10 in the third game) over Redondo Union of Redondo Beach.

Earlier in the event, Mater Dei posted wins over Lakewood, Dana Hills of Dana Point and previous state No. 1 Los Alamitos. Earning tourney MVP honors for the Monarchs was senior outside hitter Elise Zappia. She was joined on the all-tourney team by teammates Tess Morales, a senior libero, and UCLA-bound Frankie Shebby, a senior outside hitter.

Staying at No. 2 this week is Valley Christian of San Jose, but it should be noted that Tuesday’s match against Homestead of Cupertino is not included in this week’s rankings. The Warriors, who are led by Santa Clara-bound senior Kirsten Mead and Notre Dame-bound senior Maddie Dilfer, followed up going 5-0 in winning the Milpitas Spikefest with two 3-0 victories last week over hosts Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) and Salinas.

This week’s highest ranked newcomer is Redwood of Larkspur. The Katie Pease-coached team improved to 6-0 and beat previously unbeaten Monte Vista of Danville twice to win the championship of the Cougar Classic at Albany.

Each week, also look for the new top 10 for the San Francisco Bay Area, which is part of promotional efforts for our web site on the Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area TV show.

Durango Fall Classic

Next week’s state and national rankings will all get determined by what happens at the Durango Fall Classic on Friday and Saturday of this weekend in Las Vegas.

The first 10 teams in this week’s California top 20 will all be in that tournament, plus three significant nationally ranked powerhouses – Assumption (Louisville, Ky.); Horizon (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Kamehameha (Honolulu, Hawaii).

Simply going 3-0 in pool play should be viewed as a major accomplishment. In Pool 2, for example, Valley Christian of San Jose is paired with defending CIF Division I state champion Marymount of Los Angeles along with state-ranked Clovis West and Bonanza of Las Vegas.

Watch highlights of the Bay Area’s best teams every Sunday at 7 p.m. on KOFY, Channel 20, San Francisco.

(Previous ranking in parentheses; through reported results of Monday night, Sept. 16)

1. (7) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 9-0

20. (18) Monte Vista (Danville) 13-2

Dropped Out:
Previous No. 9 Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach); No. 10 Huntington Beach; No. 16 Marymount (Los Angeles); No. 17 Long Beach Poly (Long Beach).

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA TOP 10
1. (1) Valley Christian (San Jose) 7-0
2. (2) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 7-1
3. (3) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 8-1
4. (4) Homestead (Cupertino) 3-0
5. (NR) Redwood (Larkspur) 6-0
6. (5) Monte Vista (Danville) 13-2
7. (6) Palo Alto 7-1
8. (10) Carondelet (Concord) 7-1
9. (9) Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton) 3-2
10. (NR) Menlo School (Atherton) 6-2

Dropped Out: Previous No. 7 Presentation (San Jose).

Note: As the rankings continue to get done each week, we’ll also add player highlights and comments to each team. We welcome all input about teams not included and the order although we tend not to change it if teams don’t lose. For comments or questions, email markjtennis@gmail.com. Thanks to Harold Abend and Paul Muyskens for contributing to this week’s rankings.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @CalHiSports