CABRILLO MAKES HISTORY—FIRST NORTH TEAM TO CAPTURE WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL STATE TITLE 

MATCH 6: N1 Cabrillo d. S2 Grossmont, 3‐1 (28‐26, 25‐21, 19‐25, 25‐19) 
Cabrillo wins 2013 CCCAA state title, Grossmont finishes 2nd place 
Records: Cabrillo (31‐0), Grossmont (30‐5) 

Cabrillo College did what no Northern California team had done before it as the Seahawks completed a perfect season at 31‐0 and captured the North's first CCCAA women's volleyball state title in the 37‐year history of the tournament Sunday with a four‐set finals victory over Grossmont.   

Cabrillo also achieved the first undefeated season by a North team and made it three straight years that a champion team went undefeated (LA Pierce went undefeated in 2011 and 2012).   

"I didn't want to think about how big a day this might be, just focus on beating Grossmont," said Cabrillo coach Gabby Houston‐Neville. "But when that final point was scored, I thought oh my god, we just won the state title. And we just made a part of history by being that first North team."                

Houston‐Neville reminded her players about believing in winning by making her squad watch frequent showings of the Herb Brooks speech made by actor Kurt Russell in the movie "Miracle," a film on the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team's upset win over the Soviet Union on its way to winning the gold medal.                

"I kept showing them the speech before practices, and I wanted them to know it was their time. I'm sick and tired of hearing how good the South is," she joked. "I knew this team was something special going into the season. The players were committed to this goal from day 1. It's an exciting time for us and I hope for the whole North region."                

In the championship final, tourney MVP Kelsey Shaver led Cabrillo with 14 kills and  13 digs. Bria Morgan added 12 kills and Madison Borch continued her impressive play at the net with 10 kills and six blocks. Another player who had a big match was Kaitlyn Connolly, who made a match‐high 19 digs and several acrobatic plays to save balls off of blocks and tips. Connolly was an All‐NorCal Region selection in the regular season.                 

Connolly talked about the motivation video.              

"She played it for us every single day between the end of regionals until the state tournament," she said. "I found it motivating. We were quoting lines from the movie as we were warming up. It helped bring us alltogetherto be focused on winning. Instead ofthe SovietUnion, we had to beatSouthern California. Ithink we wanted thismore than the otherteams here. The level ofthe teams werepretty even in talent and we faced a tall Irvine team, but we played with heart and determination. We wanted to do this for Nor Cal, and we did."      

Grossmont (30‐5) ran out of gas after playing its third match of the day and 10 sets of action. The Griffins are state‐runner up after a 21‐year absence from the state tournament. Grossmont had  eliminated both American River and Irvine Valley earlier on Sunday.  

"It's insane to play three matches in one day," said Grossmont coach Jamie Ivers. "I had my B squad out there for most of the third and fourth sets because we just didn't have the legs. That first set hurt, I felt that we served it in for the ace, but it got overruled.  I think we could have relied a bit on adrenaline. Once we lost that first set, it was tough. I'm so proud of all my players. The effort put out by them was incredible."  

Ivers was referring to set 1 when Grossmont took a 26‐25 lead and thought it had set point on a serve by Rudy Leasau. The back line official was overruled by the tower official who felt the ball went long and did not hit the backline. Cabrillo went on to win the set, 28‐26, after a kill by Borch and a Griffins' attack error.    Grossmont battled back to win set 3 before Cabrillo went on an 11‐5 run to take a commanding 20‐14 lead in the final set. The Cabrillo fans in attendance swarmed the floor and celebrated with the players and coaches following match point, a combined block by Borch and Alex Flores.   

"I didn't know much about about the state tournament prior to coming (to Cabrillo)," said Shaver, who finished with a tourney‐high 62 kills in the Seahawks' three victories. "Once we got here, I felt the adrenaline flowing, and it motivated me to play my best."  

Borch talked about the importance of winning the Irvine Valley match, the night before.  

"We totally expected to face Irvine Valley in the final, and I think that when we beat them, it was like a championship match because we were both undefeated teams," Borch said. "It changed how things went too for today. I felt Irvine was a better team than Grossmont, so I think our confidence was higher when we found out that we were facing them instead. Winning the state title, it feels so surreal. "  

For the Griffins, Rudy Leasau scored eight kills while Simone Henderson tallied six kills and six blocks. Vanessa Phyakeo added five kills, 11 digs and three blocks and Gillian Newman chipped in six kills and four blocks. Grossmont's All‐Tourney selections included Henderson, Leasau, Megan Kurz and Lauren Hays. For Cabrillo, after Shaver, Connolly, Morgan, Flores, and Borch were honored on the 12‐women team.  

Cabrillo lost more sets at the state tourney, four, than it did in the entire first 28 matches of regular season and regional playoff play.

State Recaps written by Robert Lewis, CCCAA State Championship SID