Saturday’s division III Volleyball State Championship was a nail-biter.
During the first game, Cathedral dominated, winning 25-15, and left the Dons fans with the impression that it would be a blow-out game; one to be secured with 3 consecutive wins. But all expectations were blown away when Albany, a northern California school with no previous state titles, won the next two games in two close 25-23 and 25-21 games.
“After the first game win, I knew the other team was going to come out with much more fire and vengeance than in the first game,” said senior middle blocker Kamila Tan. “And they did.”
“The next two games were more challenging; the other team picked up their defense and started picking up everything,” said Kamila, “We also struggled with a change in the line up: our coach changed it from setting a 6-2 to a 5-1 and we weren’t prepared.”
The 4th game, a game Cathedral had to win to force a tie -breaking 5th game, was a heart-stopping nail bitter. The teams were within a couple points of each other throughout the whole game, until the very end. Once it got past 25, the score went 25-26, then 26-26, then 27-26 and so on.
The win was teetering back and forth from moment to moment until Cathedral finally secured the win with a final score of 31-29, having played a combined 10 points over the usual game score. And just like that, Cathedral was back in it. The next game was just as intense as the last, and ended up with the win for the lady Dons in a final score of 16-14.
All in all, Kamila recorded 14 kills and four blocks. Junior Tatiana Durr had 18 kills and 3 blocks, junior Krissy Witous had14 kills, 3 aces, and 2 blocks, senior middle blocker Morgan Cormier ended up with 9 kills.
Kamila, after playing an amazing game and sealing the deal with the 4th game’s winning kill, earned the honor of MVP for the night.
“There was so much emotion; it’s the most special match we’ve ever won. We’ve won this game twice, and we know what it’s like to lose a close game like today. I struggled myself today, but I told my team before the match that everyone needs to contribute for us to win today and they did,” said senior and team captain Morgan Cormier Saturday after the win.
The Lady Dons were the only southern California team at the championships to secure a state title.