Temecula Valley players celebrate after winning Dave Mohs Tournament on Monday in Huntington Beach. The Golden Bears also improved to 9-0 overall. Photo: Twitter.com.
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(Previous rank in parentheses)
(After matches of Tuesday, Sept 12)
1. (1) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 9-2
The Monarchs prepped for the Durango Fall Classic with a three-game sweep of Huntington Beach. They didn’t go to Vegas for that tourney last season, but were No. 1 in the state afterward since they had an earlier win against Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) and Mitty did go on to win that tourney crown.
2. (4) Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 10-3
A long trip through traffic to play at Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) is always a challenge, but the Eagles made that trip on Tuesday of this week and beat the Mustangs 25-18, 25-21, 25-23. They do still have a loss to Long Beach Poly, but recent wins over Edison (Huntington Beach), Marymount and now Mira Costa have overcome that.
Mater Dei head coach Dan O’Dell will take state’s top-ranked team to Durango Fall Classic this weekend. Photo: materdei.org.
3. (7) Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) 4-0
PrepVolleyball.com’s No. 2 team in the nation will be one of the most-watched at the Durango Fall Classic. No one knows the players like PrepVolleyball.com’s John Tawa and with all transfers eligible and playing and everyone healthy we assume that’s why he has the Seahawks so high. And if they win it all this weekend, we’ll have them in a good position to move them to No. 1 in the state. In our system, we just tend to let the results play out somewhat before giving a team a high ranking.
4. (2) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 14-1
The Wildcats took a loss last week to Turlock at the Central California Classic, but it was in a two-game match and they still ended up winning the tourney title, beating Clovis West of Fresno in the title match. It’s therefore only a slight drop in the rankings.
5. (5) Marymount (Los Angeles) 2-1
This was MaxPreps’ preseason No. 1 team for the nation and despite losing a match at Santa Margarita could still end up being correct. The Sailors, who didn’t play since Tuesday of last week against Mira Costa, can show how good they are this weekend since they also are in the field at the Durango Fall Classic.
6. (9) Torrey Pines (San Diego) 3-1
Jaden Whitmarsh rang up 13 kills as the Falcons beat Point Loma of San Diego 3-1 in their only match of last week. The Pointers already had a win this season against Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach), which won last year’s CIF San Diego Open Division title.
7. (9) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 6-3
By its high standards, the Monarchs have only gotten out to a so-so start to the season. They will be the defending champions at the Durango Fall Classic this weekend and will be opening the event with a match Friday vs. Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth).
8. (NR) Temecula Valley (Temecula) 9-0
Head coach Rafu Rodriguez’s squad shook up the rankings this week by topping previous No. 3 Long Beach Poly 25-19, 17-25 and 15-12 to win the D1 title on Monday night at the Dave Mohs Tournament in Huntington Beach. Mater Dei wasn’t in the field this season, but several other state-ranked squads were, such as previous No. 8 Lakewood and previous No. 15 Harvard-Westlake. Sophomore outside hitter Madison Endsley, who had 14 kills against the Jackrabbits, was named tourney MVP.
9. (10) Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 6-1
The Lenn sisters — Megan and Madison — combined for 39 kills as the Irish won their only match in the last week 3-1 against Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland. Megan Lenn had 20 kills while Madison had 19.
10. (3) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 8-2
We’ll drop the Jackrabbits down but not all the way out of the top 10 after their loss to Temecula Valley on Monday. They did win the second game behind seven kills from Onye Ofoegbu and remember early in the season they also got a win against Santa Margarita.
11. (11) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 3-0
The Mavericks hold steady with one match won last week against Point Loma and with another scheduled for Wednesday vs. Carlsbad. They open the Durango Fall Classic Friday against nationally ranked Fayetteville (Ark.).
Makayla Lewis leads unbeaten Central of Fresno in kills. Photo: Hudl.com.
12. (13) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 3-0
A win against Marin County rival Branson (Ross) helped start the season strong at MC. Branson is now 9-1 against everyone else already has a win against Campolindo (Moraga). The Wildcats will be in Las Vegas this weekend as well.
13. (14) Canyon Crest Academy (San Diego) 5-1
Wins against Carlsbad and Eastlake of Chula Vista resulted in a one-spot bump for the Ravens. Their only loss continues to be the one to Archbishop Mitty.
14. (12) Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) 1-2
The Mustangs may have lost in three straight games to Santa Margarita on Tuesday, but two of the three games were close (25-21 and 25-23) so they only drop a couple of spots in the rankings. They also have a chance to move up next week since they are in the Durango Fall Classic.
15. (NR) Central (Fresno) 18-0
This is the other unbeaten team besides Temecula Valley that has to go in this week after winning a tournament. For the Grizzlies, they won the San Luis Obispo Town Volleyball Tournament with a 2-1 win in the final match against league rival Buchanan. There were some other strong programs in the event, including Ventura, Arroyo Grande and Clovis East.
16. (17) Carlmont (Belmont) 8-1
The Scots added wins on their resume in recent days against Salinas and Menlo-Atherton of Atherton. Their only loss is to Sacred Heart Cathedral and they have that early win over Mitty to still brag about as well.
17. (NR) JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 11-3
Coach Mike Murphy’s team first gained notice on Aug. 31 with a win against preseason ranked San Juan Hills. Then last week came a win at Los Alamitos followed by a win at the Dave Mohs Tournament against previous No. 8 Lakewood.
18. (8) Lakewood 9-2
Two losses at the Dave Mohs Tournament costs the Lancers this week, but they still have their own Molten Classic crown on their ledger and they still have their first Moore League match vs Long Beach Poly coming up on Sept. 21.
19. (18) Los Alamitos 9-3
The Griffins had losses to JSerra and Temecula Valley at the Dave Mohs Tournament but those two teams are now higher than they are and they also have had enough quality wins so that they only dropped one position in the rankings.
20. (20) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 1-2
A matchup on Friday vs. nationally ranked Xavier College Prep (Ariz.) will get the Dons going at the Durango Fall Classic. Before that, they also have a match vs. Santa Fe Christian.
TEAMS THAT DROPPED OUT
Previous No. 15 Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood); No. 16 Turlock; No. 19 Corona del Mar (Newport Beach).
TEAMS ON THE BUBBLE
Bu chanan (Clovis) 14-4
Clovis North (Fresno) 12-3
Clovis West (Fresno) 17-6
Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 4-2
Huntington Beach 5-3
La Salle (Pasadena) 6-0
Rancho Cucamonga 3-1
Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 3-0
St. Francis (Mountain View) 5-2
Valley Christan (San Jose) 9-2
Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 2-1
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
