CIF volleyball: Mitty, Hillsdale, Carondelet win NorCal championships

Mitty topples St. Francis to capture NorCal Open Division championship. Hillsdale (Division I), Carondelet (D-III) also claim crowns.

Open Division

Second-seeded Archbishop Mitty used a fierce defense and a diverse offense to beat St. Francis 25-21, 23-25, 25-20, 25-19 and win the NorCal Open Division title.

Upstart eighth-seeded St. Francis had knocked off top-seeded Marin Catholic and swept Menlo School in earlier NorCal rounds. Playing in its own gym Tuesday night, Mitty (37-7) rolled behind Audrey Liddle with 20 kills, right side Reagan Dryden with 14 kills and Kendra MacDonald with 10. The 20-12 Lancers were paced by Madison Pietsch with 13 kills and Taylor Williams with 12.

“There’s not a big difference between these two teams,” Mitty coach Jon Wallace said. “We played a little cleaner tonight. We tried to be more balanced on offense. Reagan got a lot of swings on the right side. And we did everything we wanted to do after 20 (points). We wanted to be aggressive in our hitting.”

The first set was even until an eight-point Mitty run produced a 21-14 lead. The Lancers avoided a two-set hole by rallying to capture the second set. They trailed 18-14 but fought back to win behind four late kills from the USC-bound lefty Pietsch.

After a 4-4 tie, Mitty took over in the third set. In the fourth set, St. Francis again fought back from a deficit, erasing an 18-14 Mitty lead. With the tally tied at 19, the Monarchs scored six straight to win the contest, the final two coming on MacDonald kills.

“Their defense tonight was on a level we haven’t seen before,” St. Francis assistant coach Lake Merchen said. “Hats off to them. We were taking some big swings and the ball kept on coming back.”

The victory returns the Monarchs to the CIF state finals on Saturday for their record-setting 19th time. Mitty leads the state with 14 championships, with St. Francis and Francis Parker of San Diego tied for second place with nine titles.

Mitty’s last state title appearance was in 2017, when Nicole Liddle led the Monarchs with 16 kills in an upset sweep over a powerful Mater Dei team. Younger sister Audrey Liddle will lead this Mitty team into a similar challenge on Saturday at Santiago Canyon College in Orange.

The SoCal champion is unbeaten Marymount, the nation’s top team, a 19-25, 25-14, 25-17, 25-11 winner over Cathedral Catholic.

(More Mitty-St. Francis photos below)

Hillsdale wins D1

Hillsdale traveled to El Dorado Hills and upset Oak Ridge 26-24, 25-21, 25-16 to win the NorCal Division I title, the school’s first NorCal championship. Victoria Vanos led the Fighting Knights with 20 kills and 17 digs and Jessica Dean smashed 15 kills with 16 digs. Gwen Wong added 15 digs. Setter Rianna Liu had 31 assists.

Hillsdale (27-2) was unbeaten in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division play with a 14-0 record, and their only losses have been to Menlo School and St. Francis. Oak Ridge had topped Foothill and Los Gatos in five-set matches in earlier NorCal rounds.

Carondelet wins a title, too

In Division III, Carondelet continued its victory tour over teams from the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League, sweeping Santa Cruz 25-19, 25-14, 25-15. The win followed up on the Cougars’ sweep of SCCAL titlist Soquel in Saturday’s semifinals.

Avery Ehrlich led Carondelet, winning its first NorCal title, with 11 kills and middle blocker Shelby Santos had nine kills. The defense was led by libero Ilyssa Ocampo with 15 digs.

The most thrilling match was in Division III. Redwood of Larkspur traveled to Clovis and rallied past the Cougars 23-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-19, 16-14.

In Division IV, University Prep of Redding defeated neighbor West Valley of Cottonwood 25-19, 25-21, 25-20. In Division V, Skyline of Oakland swept Drew of San Francisco 25-18, 25-16, 25-22.

State finals schedule

All matches at Santiago Canyon College in Orange

Friday, Nov. 19

Division V: Skyline vs. Santa Clarita Christian, 4 p.m.

Division I: Hillsdale vs. Harvard-Westlake, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 20

Division IV: University Prep vs. Exeter, 11 a.m.

Division III: Carondelet vs. Chino Hills, 1:30 p.m.

Division II: Redwood vs. Carlsbad, 4 p.m.

Open Division: Archbishop Mitty vs. Marymount at 6:30 p.m.