Buchanan of Clovis players posed for photo after they won tourney earlier this season. They hope to play Central of Fresno in section final this weekend. Photo: ClovisRoundup,com.
Marymount and Mater Dei set up clash of top five teams with wins in Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Division I semifinals. The week’s only new team in the top 10 is Corona del Mar of Newport Beach while this week there are two newcomers — Monte Vista of Danville and Menlo School of Atherton. All section playoffs will be completed by Saturday night with the CIF regional brackets announced on Sunday.
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(Previous rank in parentheses)
(After matches of Tuesday, Nov. 7)
1. (1) Torrey Pines (San Diego) 30-3
We thought about delaying this week’s rankings until Thursday because the Falcons are playing in their CIF San Diego Section Open Division semifinal match on Wednesday night but went ahead and did the release. We were pretty confident the team wasn’t going to lose against No. 4 seed Bishop’s of La Jolla. If Torrey Pines goes ahead and wins the title, we’re also pretty confident it will be the top seed in the CIF Southern California Open Division.
Mater Dei volleyball posted a selfie from the bench earlier this season. This group hasn’t been selfish all season. Photo: Twitter.com.
2. (2) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 33-5
Sienna Secrist and Kristina Pepek both racked up 11 kills as the Monarchs advanced to their fifth straight CIF Southern Section Division I title match with a 25-22, 25-24, 25-19 win against Corona del Mar of Newport Beach. The Sea Kings came out of the side of the bracket that No. 3 seed Temecula Valley was on, but couldn’t do much against Mater Dei. Mia Tuaniga also shined with 36 assists. The Monarchs will play state No. 4 Marymount in Saturday’s final.
3. (3) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 32-5
The Monarchs lost a game but still got past Menlo School of Atherton 3-1 on Tuesday night in the CIF Central Coast Section Open Division semifinals. They will next face off against St. Ignatius of San Francisco in the section championship. Mitty and SI played last year in the CCS Open final and NorCal Open final.
4. (5) Marymount (Los Angeles) 30-7
For the second time this season, the Sailors dispatched Redondo of Redondo Beach on their home court, but this time it came in the CIFSS D1 semifinals. Marymount, which is seeded No. 1 in the bracket due mainly to having a head-to-head win over Mater Dei, won by scores of 25-21, 25-23, 21-25 and 25-22. Having big-time blocker Emma Moffet back off the injury list the last few weeks has been one reason for the team’s recent surge. Marymount is playing Mater Dei in the final on Saturday at Cerritos College. Both teams will then go into the CIF SoCal Open Division.
5. (4) Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) 34-5
In the fourth game of the Seahawks’ match on Tuesday with Marymount, they had the lead at 22-21 and were close to forcing a fifth game. That didn’t happen, but the close scores and the fact that Redondo will still be playing in the CIF SoCal Open Division means a very minimal rankings drop.
6. (7) Central (Fresno) 38-2
This team is still on track to play league rival Buchanan of Clovis for the CIF Central Section D1 crown. It would be the third match of the season between the two and should be close. If the Grizzlies win, they’d be looking at a possible top four seed for the SoCal Open Division and that means a possible home match against a CIFSS team such as Redondo. No, we wouldn’t rank Central higher than Redondo in that scenario, but semifinalists in the CIFSS usually have to travel for the SoCal playoffs.
7. (8) Marin Catholic (Kentfield) 28-4
A 3-0 sweep of Orinda Miramonte gave the Wildcats a second straight 3-0 sweep in the CIF North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs and sent them to this week’s semifinals vs. Moreau Catholic of Hayward. Due to their win over St. Ignatius in the Stockton Classic semifinals, the Wildcats look like they’re headed to the NorCal Open Division if they win their section title and would probably be the second seed behind Mitty.
8. (11) Canyon Crest Academy (San Diego) 25-8
These rankings were done before the Ravens played No. 11 Cathedral Catholic in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division semifinals. They won their first SD Open match over La Jolla Country Day.
9. (10) Santa Margarita (Rancho SM) 30-9
As expected, the Eagles had to play Redondo in a 4-5 matchup of seeded teams in the CIFSS D1 quarterfinals. They got there by beating previous state No. 19 Rancho Cucamonga. Redondo won, which means Santa Margarita’s preseason goal of getting back to the CIF Open Division state final is gone unless the CIF does something out of character and were to pick the Eagles for the SoCal Open Division instead of Corona del Mar. Almost always, though, it’s the four CIFSS D1 semifinalists going to the Open Division regardless of seedings, rankings, strength of schedule, etc. Santa Margarita would therefore seem headed to the D1 state bracket and therefore also would become a D1 state title favorite.
10. (16) Corona del Mar (Newport Beach) 22-7
Wins over Huntington Beach and Harvard-Westlake of North Hollywood put the Sea Kings into the CIFSS D1 semifinals and into the state top 10. They beat Harvard-Westlake after that team had upset previous state No. 6 Temecula Valley in the previous round. CdM then lost to Mater Dei in the semifinals on Tuesday of this week.
11. (14) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 23-6
Lindsey Miller had 13 kills while Kylie Adams handed out 36 assists as the Dons defeated Olympian of Chula Vista in the SD Section Open Division playoffs. That moved them on to this week’s semifinals, which pitted Cathedral Catholic against Canyon Crest Academy.
Nicole Cavote has been one of the top players all season for Monte Vista. She’s a senior and has committed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Photo: ragevball.com.
12. (15) St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 33-8
In the Wildcats’ first two CCS Open Division matches they didn’t drop a set, including a 3-0 sweep of Mountain View St. Francis in Tuesday’s semifinals. That win advanced SI opposite Mitty for this weekend’s CCS final.
13. (12) Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth) 32-7
It’s a little strange to see the Trailblazers in the CIFSS D3 bracket, but that’s where they are and they’ll be playing Sage Hill of Newport Beach in the championship. Keep in mind, though, that for the CIF SoCal playoffs there will be competitive equity seeding. That means for Sierra Canyon that it could be a placement as high as Division I.
14. (6) Temecula Valley (Temecula) 29-4*
The Golden Bears couldn’t shake off the effects of a long layoff and were bounced by Harvard-Westlake in the second round of the CIFSS Division I playoffs. They still had a fantastic season in general and don’t necessarily have to be behind Harvard-Westlake in final rankings since the Wolverines were ousted themselves in the quarterfinals.
15. (9) Lakewood 23-5
San Juan Hills put an end to the Lancers in the CIFSS D1 playoffs with a 3-0 win in last week’s second round. Since Lakewood had an avenging win over Long Beach Poly in the Moore League, however, it doesn’t drop completely out of this week’s rankings.
16. (17) Buchanan (Clovis) 32-6
Kennedy Rice (11 kills), Mikayla Weiss (10) and Lexi Pagani (10) were all outstanding for the Bears in their 3-0 win over Clovis East on Tuesday in the CIF Central Section D1 playoffs. They play Liberty of Bakersfield in the semifinals on Thursday and with a win probably would earn another crack at Central of Fresno in the finals.
17. (13) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 28-6
One year ago the Jackrabbits were the surprise semifinalists in the CIFSS D1 playoffs. This year they went out in the quarterfinals to Marymount. This came after a win over a Foothill of Tustin squad that was No. 20 in last week’s rankings.
18. (NR) Monte Vista (Danville) 32-2
With just two losses against a schedule of mostly NCS schools with a few from elsewhere in Northern California, the Mustangs break back into the top 20 rankings. They’re the top seed for the NCS D1 playoffs and headed into a Wednesday semifinal match vs. Foothill of Pleasanton after winning in the first round over Heritage of Brentwood.
19. (NR) Menlo School (Atherton) 29-5
The Knights earned their way back into the State Top 20 by virtue of beating Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) in the CCS Open Division playoffs. That got them a match this week with No. 3 Mitty and although they lost they did win one set and could be a team to watch for the NorCal Open Division. Since the CCS has an Open Division, the CIF can grab as many as four teams from that bracket for the NorCal Open Division. There were four last year and very likely will be four again.
20. (18) San Juan Hills 23-13
We are going to leave in the Stallions at the tail end of the top 20 after they knocked off Lakewood in the CIFSS D1 playoffs and then fell to state No. 2 Mater Dei in the quarterfinals.
TEAMS THAT DROPPED OUT:
Previous No. 19 Rancho Cucamonga; No. 20 Foothill (Tustin).
TEAMS ON THE BUBBLE
Bishop’s (La Jolla) 25-7
Culver City 29-1
Edison (Huntington Beach) 16-11*
Foothill (Tustin) 21-6*
Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 19-10
Huntington Beach 26-8
James Logan (Union City) 35-3
JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 19-7*
La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 17-13*
Los Alamitos 22-11*
Lutheran (Orange) 17-13
Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) 11-12
Palo Alto 23-4
Ponderosa (Shingle Springs) 32-4
Rancho Cucamonga 23-10
Sacred Heart Cathedral (SF) 22-12
Santiago (Corona) 31-5
St. Francis (Mountain View) 23-13
St. Francis (Sacramento) 32-7
Valley Christian (San Jose) 17-12
Vista Murrieta (Murrieta) 18-8
*Season complete.
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
