Players from Marymount of Los Angeles collected a lot of metal after they won the championship on Sept. 22 at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona. It is one of the two most prestigious tournaments in the nation. Photo: @MHSLAAthletics / Twitter.com.
It’s even more complicated at the top of the state rankings following the Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona as Marymount of Los Angeles wins the tourney title. The Sailors topped state No. 1 Mater Dei in the final, but they have six losses this season and are 0-2 vs. both Redondo and Torrey Pines. Fortunately for us, these teams at the top of the state could play each other at least two more times. Highest ranked newcomer this week is San Juan Hills of San Juan Capistrano.
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(Previous rank in parentheses)
(After matches of Tuesday, Sept. 25)
1. (2) Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) 19-2
Having a title game loss to national No. 1 Assumption of Kentucky in the final match of the Durango Fall Classic and getting other big wins, including the one in a league showdown on Tuesday night of this week vs. longtime rival Mira Costa of Manhattan Beach, pushes the Seahawks just past Mater Dei for this week’s No. 1 ranking. Although Redondo has a head-to-head loss to the Monarchs, there’s been two losses on the Mater Dei season log since then.
2. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 30-2
Of course it had to be that in the Monarchs’ first match against Marymount of Los Angeles this season it would be the Sailors getting the win. It was decided that there should be some consequence from losing that match, even though it was for the championship of the Nike TOC and Marymount has two losses to other teams that Mater Dei beat. That consequence ended up being a one-spot drop this week from No. 1 to No. 2 in the Cal-Hi Sports State Top 20. Head coach Dan O’Dell’s girls will get a another crack at Marymount in a non-league match in two weeks.
3. (3) Torrey Pines (San Diego) 18-2
The Falcons are hosting the California Challenge tourney this weekend and it will be a strong field. One of those coming is Walton of Marietta, Ga., which was No. 1 in the nation entering the Durango Fall Classic two weeks ago. Torrey Pines fans should want nothing more than Marymount to continue to win in the CIF Southern Section. If the Sailors were to win the CIFSS D1 title and the Falcons did the same in the San Diego Open Division, those two head-to-head wins by Torrey Pines would likely mean a top seed for the SoCal Open Division and home state playoff games.
4. (5) Marymount (Los Angeles) 23-6
After winning the Nike TOC title, the Sailors have to move up at least one or two spots in this week’s rankings. We just couldn’t move them in front of either Redondo or Torrey Pines due to having two head-to-head losses to each one. PrepVolleyball.com gave credit to the defense of libero Cami Carfino and setter Taylor Fourticq in that 25-22, 25-17 win against Mater Dei in the Nike TOC final. Marymount also has already won this week against dangerous league rival Flintridge Sacred Heart.
5. (4) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 9-4
Since returning from their strong showing at the Durango Fall Classic, the Dons have continued to win against Western League opponents. They will be in the same pool at Palm Desert, St. Mary’s of Stockton and Sierra Canyon on Friday at the Torrey Pines California Challenge.
6. (7) Central (Fresno) 28-3
The Grizzlies continue to be in line for a berth in the CIF SoCal Open Division. They faced Buchanan of Clovis on Tuesday, perhaps their toughest section foe, on Tuesday and rolled to a 3-0 win by scores of 25-18, 25-14 and 25-10. Since we’ll be in town for the big football game on Friday night and for a book signing, we may have to stop by on Thursday night for the match vs. Clovis to get some photos of the Grizzlies for next week’s rankings.
7. (8) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 12-4
This team moves up one spot as well this week to account for previous No. 5 Mira Costa having to drop down. The Mavericks had some difficulty putting away both San Marcos and Canyon Crest Academy in their two most recent outings, but won in the end and will be looking to make a big splash this weekend at the California Challenge.
8. (9) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 21-2
Will the Wildcats be the team from the north for the CIF Open Division state final coming up in mid-November? They might not have the swagger of the teams from Archbishop Mitty of recent seasons, but they still would be the team ranked on top of all others from the CCS, NCS and Sac-Joaquin sections. This week they already have a 3-0 win over league nemesis Branson of Ross.
9. (10) Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 11-4
We’re still ranking the Knights just in front of Westlake due to owning a head-to-head win over the Warriors (their only loss). We had to add one extra loss to their ledger, but that was from a previously unreported result to an out-of-state team.
10. (11) Westlake (Westlake Village) 26-1
Head coach Ernest Rittenhouse’s girls remained dominant in Ventura County with a 3-0 sweep last week of their next-door neighbors from Oaks Christian. Westlake, in fact, hasn’t lost a game in nearly one month.
11. (12) Harvard-Westlake (N. Hollywood) 20-7
On Saturday of the upcoming weekend, the Warriors will go for the upset in a non-league home match against new No. 1 Redondo. They won on Tuesday at Marlborough and next week will be playing at No. 4 Marymount.
Long Beach Poly freshman Riley McGinest is the daughter of former NFL star linebacker Willie McGinest. Photo: The562.org.
12. (6) Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) 16-8
The Mustangs have been sitting in the fourth spot of the CIFSS D1/D2 rankings for a few weeks, but then last week they lost three times at the Nike TOC and then lost again earlier this week to new No. 1 Redondo. That battle for the No. 4 or No. 5 seed and which team wins or loses in the CIFSS D1 quarterfinals involving the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds will likely determine the favorite for the CIF Division I state championship.
13. (14) St. Francis (Sacramento) 18-2
It’s a busy few days coming up for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section frontrunners. First there will be the Oak Ridge tourney in El Dorado Hills this weekend and then next Tuesday there will be a Delta League showdown against 19-2 Pleasant Grove of Elk Grove.
14. (20) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 21-5
Everyone in California knows how tough the West Catholic Athletic League has been in CIF state volleyball with easily the most state titles of any league in the state. We are therefore giving the Irish a bump this week for being 5-0 in the WCAL and having a two-game lead over both Mitty and St. Ignatius.
15. (18) Foothill (Tustin) 18-3
Three players — Grace Cannon, Elsa Cannon and Rachel Fairbanks (a sophomore) — have all gone over 100 kills already for the Knights, who continue to be perfect in the Crestview League of the CIFSS D1 playoff grouping.
16. (16) Village Christian (Sun Valley) 20-7
We moved in the Crusaders, remember, for their back-to-back-back wins at the Durango Fall Classic over Archbishop Mitty, Lakewood and Sierra Canyon. Since returning from Nevada, they’ve beaten Heritage Christian, Laguna Beach, Valencia and Whittier Christian.
17. (NR) San Juan Hills (SJ Capistrano) 10-4
The Stallions’ last loss was to Nike TOC champ Marymount. They beat Aliso Niguel 3-2 in a league matchup last week behind 15 kills from Abbey Dayton and 12 from Madison Beebe.
18. (NR) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 12-6
One of the best Poly athletes (male or female) we’ve ever covered in the nearly 40 years of Cal-Hi Sports is former NFL standout Willie McGinest. It was therefore great to see that Willie’s daughter, Riley, is a freshman starter for the Jackrabbits on this year’s volleyball team. Poly goes into this week’s rankings for getting a win last week against St. Joseph of Lakewood and for winning in its most recent matchup with Lakewood.
19. (NR) Great Oak (Temecula) 14-5
The Southwestern League of the CIFSS is great this season, but it’s a mess of who-beat-who scenarios. For this week, Great Oak is up for having a win against Murrieta Valley.
20. (15) Temecula Valley (Temecula) 9-4
We’re giving the Golden Bears some credit for knocking off previous No. 13 Vista Murrieta last week, but they followed that up with a loss to Murrieta Valley. Between Great Oak, Temecula Valley, Vista Murrieta and Murrieta Valley it may be anybody’s guess as to which one winds up winning the Southwestern League title.
Dropped Out:
Previous No. 13 Vista Murrieta (Murrieta); No. 17 La Jolla; No. 19 Bishop’s (La Jolla).
On The Bubble
Aliso Niguel (Aliso Viejo) 7-3
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 13-7
Buchanan (Clovis) 18-5
Canyon Crest (San Diego) 11-8
James Logan (Union City) 13-7
Lakewood 17-6
Murrieta Valley (Murrieta) 12-6
Notre Dame (Belmont) 14-5
Palo Alto 12-3
Ponderosa (Shingle Springs) 15-2
Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 15-9
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 20-8
St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 17-8
St. Joseph (Lakewood) 22-5
Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
4 Comments
5 of their 6 losses were when Devon Newberry was out with injury, just saying . . .
I was referring to Marymount HS, Devon Newberry will be missing the next few games because she’ll be representing the USA Beach Volleyball in the youth olympics in Buenos Aires next 2 weeks.
Thanks for the comment. All losses still count to some degree no matter who is playing and six is a lot. We have had injury-related and similar situations in other sports for many years and we tend to let it simply play out. If Marymount is the best at full strength, we’ll see in the CIFSS playoffs.
quick inquiry… Carlmont High School from Belmont .CA is doing well…. are they not good enough to be mentioned in this article