Culver Defends Its CIF Volleyball Championship

Saturday's Division 4 Finals will pit #1 ranked Lady Centaurs (29-1) against its archrival #3 Santa Monica (18-6) in an All-Ocean League match.

Santa Monica made the finals by beating West Torrance in the first round 3-0, Valley Christian 3-1 in the second, La Canada in the quarter-finals, 3-1 and Crean Lutheran 3-1 in the semis.

The Lady Centaurs are in the finals for the second straight year and are defending their CIF Championship. They easily won over Pasadena in the first round and La Habra in the second. They continued on their quest by beating Polytechnic 3-1 in quarterfinals and went on the road and rallied against a tough Cypress team after losing the first set 18-25, to ultimately win the next three sets 25-12, 25-18 and 25-14 to move on to Saturday's finals.

Culver went undefeated in League play (10-0) by sweeping its two matches over a tough Viking team (8-2).

The Lady Centaurs went on the road and beat the Vikings 3-2 on their home court in a tough, hard fought match 3-2 and at home 3-0.

When asked what made the difference in Tuesday's semi-final match versus Cypress, head coach Tanner Siegal said, "It was Trust. When you go down in the first game... We didn't play our game. We made some mistakes. Credit to Cypress tonight, they were a tough team in a tough environment. But in a game like this, with such magnitude, it comes down to trust. The girls didn't panic. They trusted each other and they made plays when they had to."

Coach Siegal pointed out that blocking and serving were great. Saying, "We trust our servers. We were calling for serves in aggressive spots to put our opponent on the defensive and tonight our servers didn't let us down."

Asked if he expected some surprises in the up-coming championship match, "Santa Monica is probably geared up and is looking forward to another shot at us. Obviously, it's a matchup we feel good about. They will be a difficult opponent and I expect a great match."

He continued, "We know each other's game. There will be no surprises from either team. Ultimately, winning will come down to execution."

The championship game is being held this Saturday, November 11 at Cerritos College. Game starts at 7 pm.

Come out and cheer on our Lady Centaurs to another championship victory.