While their season did not end at the finals of the Central Coast Section Division I volleyball play-offs last Saturday night, the Homestead Mustangs’ dream of back-to-back CCS championships did.
The top-seeded Menlo-Atherton Bears saw to that by dethroning the Mustangs in four sets at Independence High School to capture their second CCS title in three years. The Bears claimed their first CCS championship in 2012 when they defeated Homestead in a hard fought five-set match.
Despite losing last Saturday, Homestead’s 2014 continued as the Mustangs earned a berth in the California Interscholastic Federation State Tournament, drawing powerful Monte Vista of Danville in their opener earlier this week in Danville.
The Mustangs, who reached the CCS Division I finals for the fifth time in eight years and were in search of their fourth section crown last Saturday, had advanced to the championship round by virtue of wins over Palo Alto and Carlmont.
“After the Carlmont match, I told the girls, ‘If we block, we’ll win,’ ” said Homestead coach Gary Carroll.
But the blocking that had been such a critical factor in beating Paly and Carlmont was not present against Menlo-Atherton.
“Their athleticism in the front row took us out of our system,” said Carroll. “I thought we matched up well with M-A, but we couldn’t seem to get out of our own way, and our serve-receive went a little bit south.”
The Mustangs and Bears split the first two sets of their title tilt, Menlo-Atherton taking the first 25-22 and Homestead, behind the play of outside hitter Katie Barker and setter Maria Balus, rebounding to take the second 25-21.
But Menlo-Atherton seized control of the match in the third set, winning easily 25-14, and then wrapped things up in the fourth, 25-17.
“We had a chance to win game one,” said Carroll, a 1981 Homestead grad who has carved an impressive 90-48 record as the Mustangs’ head coach the past four years. “And in game three, they didn’t do anything special. We just decided to make a tremendous amount of hitting errors.”
Barker, who has committed to play for the University of Portland in Oregon next year, performed admirably in defeat, pounding down 20 kills on 38 swings.
“She has been consistent all year for us,” praised Carroll.
The loss dropped Homestead’s record for the 2014 season to 24-14. This was the Mustangs’ seventh trip to the CCS play-offs in the last eight years. They were section champs in 2007, ’08 and ’13.
Homestead opened tournament play with a 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21 quarter-final triumph over longtime rival Palo Alto.
Senior Connor Bunka, who may end up playing in Canada at the University of British Columbia next year, led the Mustang attack with 21 kills. Barker added 12 kills and junior Sofia Olsson turned in a stellar all-around game. “Sofia is going to be a really special player for us next year,” said Carroll.
In the semi-finals, Homestead cruised past seventh-seeded Carlmont in straight sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-23) after the Scots had stunned second-seeded Salinas in the opening round.
The Mustangs played brilliant defense against the Scots, receiving outstanding performances from Celine Lee, Barker, Bunka and Olsson.
“Celine in the back row is a very special kid,” noted Carroll. “She doesn’t know how good she is. All season long she has been wonderful.”
If the Mustangs, seeded sixth, were able to beat third seed Monte Vista on Tuesday night in their state tournament opener, the chances were good that they would meet up with Menlo-Atherton in the next round. And that’s something–an opportunity to avenge their loss in the CCS finals–Carroll and his Mustangs would dearly love.
“Yeah, we wouldn’t mind getting another shot at them,” admitted the Homestead coach.
