When Mater Dei’s girls volleyball team wins an important match, a loud and joyous Samoan celebration will sometimes erupt in the stands.
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There have been Siva Samoa dances that celebrate Samoan culture and heritage following some of the team’s bigger wins in recent seasons.
Mater Dei’s Westley Matavao is a senior outside hitter for the Monarchs, and she usually has several of her Samoan family members in attendance at the games. Matavao has two siblings, but her mother is one of 12 children, so the group of her cousins can be large and vocal.
She tries to stay focused on what’s happening on the court. But sometimes …
“I get glimpses and pieces of what they say and some of it is so funny that I have to laugh while I’m trying to stay locked in and trying to score and win this game,” she said. “I don’t get a small amount of support, I get a huge amount of support. It motivates me and also reminds me that this is fun and how lucky I am to be here.”
Matavao, who was All-Orange County first team and All-CIF last season, has committed to UCLA. As a senior, she tries to be a leader for the Monarchs, but she does not have to be The Leader. The Monarchs have enough high-level talent and strong personalities to take care of that.
Matavao, though, has what it takes to pull the team in the correct direction.
The Monarchs (5-0) will pursue the Gold Division championship in the Dave Mohs Memorial Invitational tournament that starts Friday and concludes Saturday.
The Monarchs have plenty of depth to go with their talent. Senior middle blocker Emma Kingston was All-County fourth team last season. Katherine Nowak was All-County third team last year as a junior at JSerra. Senior Kalea Lee is a star setter on a roster of many stars.
Kingston and Lee are among the team’s senior leaders, along with Matavao.
“I’m just trying to lead by example,” Matavao said. “This isn’t really new to me, and I really enjoy it. I can speak it but I can also show what I mean by it.”
It is a fun team, too.
“Oh, man, we’re a handful,” she said. “We have some of the biggest personalities around on this team this year.”
Matavao wants to continue to improve her game in all areas, especially the mental part of it.
“I feel like I’m a lot smarter player this year,” she said. “I’m trying to do different things, try different shots.
“Sometimes I tend to hit straight on to the block. I’ll resort to easy things like tips or whatnot. But I’m also exploring and trying new shots.”
Mater Dei coach Dan O’Dell said Matavao is a different player and person as a senior.
“It’s her maturity and her attention to details,” he said. “She senses how close college is and she wants to make sure she’s ready for college. She’s not wasting time. She’s taking every day as seriously as possible.
“Not that she’s dismissing this season. She’s just extremely focused on becoming the best version of herself. That’s fun to see.”
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The Mohs tournament’s Gold Division final will be played Saturday at 2 p.m. at Newport Harbor High. The Gold Division semifinals are at noon at Newport Harbor.
Matavao intends to savor every match, every set, every rally and every point with her teammates.
“I love it because we’re so versatile, so many different girls that are connected in so many different ways,” she said. “We’re rowdy, we’re wild and we cheer loudly. It’s such a joy to be on this team.”
Through it all, Matavao hopes to exemplify something larger.
“My family, our culture, being Samoan is such a beautiful part of me,” Matavao said. “It’s something I will continue to take pride in and represent, and I think I’ve been pretty good at that.”
NOTES
• Orange Lutheran football coach Ray Fenton said the Lancers showed improvement in their 38-24 win over Cathedral Catholic last week. “In general, the biggest week of improvement is always from the first week to the second week,” Fenton said. “What we also did was eliminate the self-inflicted wounds like lining up wrong and the illegal procedure and offsides penalties.” Orange Lutheran will play Arizona’s No. 1-ranked team, Basha, on Friday night at Orange Coast College. …
• Orange Lutheran offensive tackle Austin Attalah has been denied varsity eligibility at the school this season following his transfer from Cajon. Attalah (6-7, 305) is ranked by Rivals/On3 as California’s No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2028. …
• Parking for football games at Saddleback College is $5. Like for games at Orange Coast College, posted QR codes are used to pay for parking. …
• A proposal that will go through the process this school year would give five-team leagues in football three automatic qualifier spots in the CIF-SS playoffs. Currently five-team football leagues get two automatic spots in the playoffs. …
• JSerra’s boys water polo team is No. 1 in this week’s Orange County rankings. The Lions opened their season last week with a 14-13 win over La Jolla in triple overtime. La Jolla was the CIF San Diego Section Open Division champion in 2025. …
• The Dana Hills boys water polo team this week beat last year’s CIF Southern Section Division 2 champion Capistrano Valley, 11-8. …
• Colley Royalty ratings again will be used to place boys and girls basketball teams into the CIF-SS playoff divisions this coming season. Strength of schedule is a major factor in the ratings, and Colley Royalty system has a cap on margin of victory so that massively one-sided results are not part of the formula. …
• Mater Dei’s boys basketball team will be No. 1 in the Orange County preseason rankings, based on what was observed at a recent intrasquad scrimmage. There is talent and depth galore on the team that got even better this week when junior Isaiah Williamson enrolled. Williamson was All-Sunset League first team at Los Alamitos last season. …
• Mater Dei will host the Nike Extravaganza basketball event on Jan. 22-23. This year’s event might be the best in recent years. Among the games on Jan. 23 are Canyon vs. Servite, Orange Lutheran vs. Corona Centennial, Santa Margarita vs. San Marino, Corona del Mar vs. St. Augustine and Mater Dei vs. St. Francis.
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