Eagles Need Fifth Game to Advance

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA —  Santa Margarita fought off Lakewood St. Joseph to win, 15-4, 15-3, 13-15, 4-15, 15-11, in front of a standing room only crowd in the quarterfinals of the state Division II girls’ volleyball playoffs Saturday night.

The second-seeded Eagles (19-3) will visit top-seeded Westlake Village Westlake in the semifinals on Tuesday. Earlier this season Santa Margarita lost to Westlake in five games.

Santa Margarita had St. Joseph (17-5) in check early, as the Eagles quickly won the first two games. But the Jesters rallied to win the next two. Eagle Coach Eddie Rapp then pulled his team behind the curtain during the break to inspire his players.

“I talked about this being our gym,” Rapp said. “Things like this don’t happen in our gym, especially in Game 5.”

The Eagles took Rapp’s words to heart, but not without a struggle.

A block by junior middle blocker Sarah Ballog and two kills by sophomore outside hitter Lauren Heri, put Santa Margarita up 3-0 in the fifth game. But the Jesters rallied and took a 5-3 lead.

Rapp called timeout to regroup his squad and the momentum swung back to the Eagles, as senior setter Suzanne Sarkees served seven consecutive points to give the Eagles a 10-5 lead. In the run, Heri and Ballog each had three kills.

After the Eagles had a match point at 14-6, the Jesters came back to close the gap to 14-11, led by middle blocker Aileen Presiado, who had four kills in the run.

Santa Margarita got a side out when Julianne Hastert, who had served five consecutive points, served into the net.

Sarkees took over the serve and on a kill attempt, Hastert drilled the ball into the net, giving the Eagles the hard-earned victory.

Outside hitter Anna Yasuhara was the sparkplug behind the Jesters’ comeback, recording a match-high 22 kills.

Senior outside hitter Michelle Chambers led the Eagles with 20 kills and 16 digs. Senior Kiki Maroutsos, Heri and Ballog each had 12 kills.