Cate girls volleyball battled back and forth with West Valley High and emerged victorious in a thrilling five-set victory in the CIF-SS Div. 7 title matchup on Saturday in Carpinteria.
The Rams and Mustangs exchanged sets throughout the matchup, leading up to a seesaw fifth set where Cate finished off the win, 25-16, 23-25, 25-17, 21-25, 17-15.
“Going into this match, we were prepared for a five-set game like that,” Cate head coach Jordon Dyer said. “This whole week, we were just talking about the marathon mentality and it’s going to be a fifth set. It’s going to be there, and we’re gonna want that. We’re going to ride the ups and downs, and we’re going to stay composed, poised and neutral to it all.
“Hats off to West Valley for playing one great game. They challenged us. They made us earn everything. They didn’t give us anything. They showed up and they played a great game.”
After the two teams split the first four sets of action, the packed house rose to its feet for an electrifying fifth set.
Cate raced out to a 5-1 lead thanks to a trio of kills by Oyin Opawumi, who made an impact all night long. However, the Mustangs swung back with five consecutive points to take a 6-5 lead and prompt a Cate timeout.
Out of the break, the two teams exchanged haymakers back and forth until the set was tied up at 14-14. West Valley then hammered down a kill to take a 15-14 lead and force a match point.
The next swing by a Mustang was a service error, tying it at 15-15 and opening the door for the Rams.
Cate took advantage, as Fallon Erickson delivered a clutch ace and Opawumi put the finishing touches on her masterpiece of a performance with a kill on the outside to clinch the win and send the crowd into a frenzy.
“Naturally, it’s really easy to be like, ‘Oh, no, we’re losing, we’re tied, we’re winning,’ but I think something that our coach Jordon Dyer spent a lot of time with telling us was to stay neutral,” Opawumi said of the dramatic fifth-set
“We locked in, we had a lot of highs. We also had a lot of lows, but what saved us was that in between, that kind of kept us going and I’m really, really proud of all these girls.”
Opawumi, a senior, was all over the court for the Rams with a team-high 26 kills and 26 digs.
“Oyin Opawumi is a fierce attacker, an offensive player, but on defense, she’s working harder than just about anybody, going after everything, making second effort plays,” Dyer said. “You don’t get that for a lot of players when they’re offensively that strong, and also never taking any points off on defense.”
While the Rams will still be competing in the CIF State Tournament beginning next week, the CIF-SS title is an impressive achievement for a team that boasts six seniors who have been contributing for four years.
“This team pretty much grew up together,” Dyer said. “The last four years of coaching them has been special. These players, these young ladies, stepped up to the adversity, responded with the highs of highs and lows of lows, and they grew stronger through that.
“We’re not done yet. We’ve got state and regional next, but they deserve this every moment of this. They were tested through and through. It’s a special group of girls we have here.”
The two sides went back-and-forth to begin the opening set, with the Rams holding a slim 5-4 lead following a Mustang kill.
However, Opawumi came through with a kill out of the middle to spark a seven-point run for the Rams. Opawumi was at the service line for the momentum-swinging run to take a 12-5 advantage.
From there, Cate fended off any West Valley comeback effort to maintain the lead for the rest of the opening set. The Rams’ defense made play after play in the first, keeping points alive en route to the 25-16 win.
“A lot of second effort plays on defense,” Dyer said. “If you’ve watched us throughout the season, that’s nothing new. It’s not a surprise, it’s impressive, but it’s not a surprise.”
The Mustangs bounced back out of the break, taking advantage of a pair of net violations by Cate to build up an early 6-1 advantage in the second set.
The Rams stayed in it, however, continuing to battle back throughout the set to tie it up at 11-11 and once again at 17-17. Opawumi and Coco Kliman then each came up with big kills to help Cate take a 20-17 lead.
However, the mistakes once again came back to haunt Cate as a service error and two violations tied it up once again at 20-20. The back-and-forth continued as the Mustangs rattled off three straight points before the Rams answered with three of their own to bring it to 23-23.
The set of miscues then continued for the Rams, as a service error and a miscommunication that allowed the ball to fall gave West Valley the 25-23 victory and tied the match at 1-1.
The third set was tightly contested early, as both squads fed off the energy from their respective cheering sections. In fact, the largest lead in the early stages was a 13-9 advantage for the Rams.
After the Mustangs fought back with two straight points, Opawumi came through with a block, a kill out of the back row and an ace to extend the lead to 16-11 and force a West Valley timeout.
The Rams continued to roll out of the timeout, building a 20-12 lead. While the Mustangs battled back to cut the deficit to 22-17, Cate finished off the set thanks to three straight aces by Margo Freeman.
“We have the team chemistry to go far, and I think that it’s true that we’ve played a lot of teams that could have beaten us, but I truly think the bond we have on the court and off the court really, really saved us,” Opawumi said.
“That really let us keep going those extra miles and those extra points that ultimately won the game.”
After the two sides battled to a 9-9 tie early in the fourth set, West Valley caught fire and rattled off five straight points to take a 14-9 advantage midway through the set.
The Tigers continued to ride the energy from their cheering section all the way to an 18-12 lead and seemed set to cruise to the fifth and final set with all of the momentum.
However, the Rams put up a fight with a five-point swing to cut the deficit down to 21-19. West Valley then recollected itself and finished off the set 25-21 to force the drama-filled, winner-take-all fifth set.