Sophia Otte emerged as a go-to option for the Bishop Diego girls’ volleyball team as the Cardinals overcame a nightmare first set to defeat visiting Santa Barbara 11-25, 25-20. 25-17, 25-23.
Bishop Diego coach Dillan Bennett revealed that, based on the archives available, the win was the first time that the Cardinals have defeated Santa Barbara High in girls’ volleyball since 1975.
“Once the kids realized that Santa Barbara is also a high school volleyball team and we’re all the same age, it really is a level playing field,” Bennett said. “What we’ve talked about a lot this year is that if we serve tough we can compete against anyone.”
After dropping the first set 25-11, and falling behind 9-6 in set two Bishop Diego began to build confidence. The Cardinals took a 13-12 lead in set two on an ace serve by Olivia Leflang.
An ace serve by Karina Urzua extended the Bishop Diego lead to 16-13, but Santa Barbara battled back and evened the score at 19 apiece on back-to-back aces by Paylin Marcillac.
A kill by Leflang put Bishop Diego ahead 20-19, but the Dons responded again with a cross-court spike by Blake Saunders that evened the score at 20-20.
However, that was the final point Santa Barbara would score in the set. Natalie Chan ripped off a serving run for the Cardinals that kept the Dons off balance. A solo block by Otte gave Bishop Diego a 24-20 lead and an errant set by the Dons clinched the second set for the Cardinals.
“In the second game a couple breaks go our way and it’s a new ball game,” Bennett said. “I think that second game was huge for our confidence.”
Rather than go back to the rotation they had been using to start set three, Bishop Diego kept Chan at the service line and she responded with three consecutive ace serves.
Bishop Diego extended its lead to 10-3 on a kill by Mollie McGibben. The Dons cut their deficit to 20-14 on a kill by Lola Heckman, but never truly threatened as Bishop Diego clinched a 2-1 set lead on an ace serve by Abbie Hubbs.
Set four was tight throughout as neither team was able to take a lead of more than three points. A kill by Kira Elliott gave the Dons a 21-19 lead, and Santa Barbara went ahead 22-19 on a Bishop Diego hitting error.
However, Bishop Diego found another good rotation led by the serving of Leflang and closed out the match with six consecutive points. A powerful spike by Otte clinched the win for Bishop Diego and set off a celebration on the court.
“We went into the game thinking we had nothing to lose. They are a huge public school and we are a small private school,” Otte said. “When we have fun we play our best, and I think we had a lot of fun in that game.”
Ott finished with a career high 16 kills and three blocks. Chan added eight digs, seven kills, and three aces. Leflang chipped in seven kills and two aces.
Blake Saunders led the way for Santa Barbara with 14 kills, eight digs, and three aces. Kira Elliott added eleven kills.
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