November 2, 2007

SCCAL Volleyball: It's Mt. Madonna vs. Harbor in tonight's SCCAL
tournament final
By Julie Jag
Sentinel staff writer
SANTA CRUZ — A split second after sprawling to the floor to dig a hit,
Alexa Rosendale pried herself up, sprang into the air and attacked.
Her powerful hit from the back row of the volleyball court at Santa
Cruz High careened through the St. Francis defense and found its way
to the floor for a kill.
That was the kind of night it was going to be for Rosendale and her
Mount Madonna School girls volleyball team Thursday during the
semifinals of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League tournament.
Rosendale finished with a career-high 40 kills and the Hawks advanced
to the tournament final with a 21-25, 25-18, 25-13, 25-22 win. The No.
2-seeded Hawks will play for a share of the league title tonight at 7
at Santa Cruz High against No. 1 Harbor, which beat No. 4 Aptos in
four games.
"Alexa was unbelievable. That's the best I've ever seen her play,"
said Mt. Madonna coach Gabby Houston. "Her defense was incredible. She
really, really was a standout player tonight"
To put Rosendale's performance in perspective, she made more kills
than the rest of her team combined, and more than the entire St.
Francis team. She also made 21 digs and two aces. Hannah Meade
followed with 15 kills for the Hawks, and middle Ashleigh England
proved to be a force with 10 kills. Setter Erin Mitchell made 56
assists and four digs.
Middle Katherine Brown led the Sharks with 15 kills and two blocks,
while Rochelle Welch made six kills and seven aces and Erin Hurley
made 16 digs. Megan House added eight kills before leaving the match
in the fourth game with a possible tailbone injury.
St. Francis took control of the first game early and maintained it
easily over a scattered Mt. Madonna team. But Rosendale seemed
determined to stop the Sharks, even if she had to do it single
handedly. She provided the spark, and by the end of the game, her
teammates seemed to have absorbed her energy.
"There were a lot of motivating forces," Rosendale said. "One, we just
lost to them in three [games]; we knew if they beat us and they beat
Harbor in the final, a trip to CCS wouldn't be guaranteed; and they're
our rival, so we're always fired up for them"

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Both teams wanted the win to boost their chances of going to the
Central Coast Section playoffs. Entering the match, Mount Madonna had
a shaky hold on the second of the league's guaranteed berths
[regular-season SCCAL champ Harbor owns the other.] They had to make
it into the final to keep that berth, while St. Francis could have
swiped it by winning the entire tournament.
But in the end, it looks as though both teams will be going anyway.
Mt. Madonna protected its automatic berth, and St. Francis coach
Denise Sheldon said she thought the Sharks' record would get them a spot.
"Because of points, I'm pretty sure we're going to be in," she said.
And that means there's a chance the league rivals could meet again, as
both play in Division V.
But first, Rosendale's looking to win a share of the league title.
"I'm excited," she said. "We have nothing to lose, and we could be
co-champions"
Harbor def. Aptos, 25-18, 22-25, 2519, 25-12: Aptos played well enough
to take a game from Harbor, but couldn't stay consistent enough to
steal the match. Harbor, meanwhile, had struggles of its own.
But thanks to a serving run by Karissa Cook in Game 1 and good hitting
by Leslie Muirhead, the Pirates [35-14-0] will be headed to the SCCAL
championship match against Mt. Madonna tonight at 7 at Santa Cruz High.
Sarah LeFever made six kills and three blocks for the Mariners [18-12,
7-7], whose season is still alive. Coach Jen Bryan said she expects
her team to have a good enough record to qualify for a spot in the CCS
D-III playoffs. Harbor, the regular-season champ, already has a spot
set out for it in D-IV.