NEWPORT BEACH – Mater Dei’s girls volleyball team played Saturday like a team that could repeat as a CIF State champion.
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The Monarchs swept Marymount of Los Angeles in two sets, 25-11, 25-21, in the finals of the Dave Mohs Memorial Tournament at Newport Harbor High.
Mater Dei is 13-0. The Monarchs have defeated several power programs like Mira Costa and Harvard-Westlake this season.
During the Mohs tournament they had two-set sweeps of Oak Park-River Forest of Illinois, Murrieta Valley, West Ranch and Newport Harbor before beating Long Beach Poly in three sets in the Gold Division semifinals.
Senior outside hitter Westley Matavao led the Monarchs’ balanced attack in the final with five kills. Senior outside hitter Shewa Adefemiwa had four kills. Senior opposite hitter Syri Messy had three kills.
Mater Dei used an 11-0 run to build a large lead in the first set. The Monarchs led the second set from the start and had leads of 6-0 and 13-3.
Mater Dei was up 22-12 before Marymount went on a run to close within 24-21.
Mater Dei coach Dan O’Dell called a timeout. After that, the Monarchs were able to put the win away on a Paige Linden kill.
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O’Dell actually enjoyed the late challenge by Marymount in the second set.
“That’s my favorite takeaway of this, that we got into that pressure situation and the girls responded well,” he said.
Matavao liked how the Monarchs played with confidence.
“I think we played really relaxed,” said Matavao, who was All-Orange County first team last season and has committed to UCLA. “Not in a bad way … We trust each other and we trust our skills and I think we played really great tonight.”
Mater Dei is No. 2 in the MaxPreps.com national rankings, behind Sierra Canyon. Mater Dei lost to Sierra Canyon in last season’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship match, but the Monarchs beat Sierra Canyon in the CIF Southern California Regional Open Division final.
The Monarchs are No. 1 in the Orange County Top 10.
Mater Dei has another challenging opponent on this week’s schedule. The Monarchs play San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic on Thursday at Mater Dei.
Marymount (5-3) is ranked No. 26 in the MaxPreps national rankings.
The tournament is named for Dave Mohs who was a basketball and volleyball coach at Edison beginning with the school’s opening in 1969 through many following years. Edison’s gym also is named for him.
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