Quinn Helps Bishop Montgomery Reach Final

Senior middle blocker Noelle Quinn had 18 kills and 14 blocks to lead Torrance Bishop Montgomery to a 15-9, 15-13, 10-15, 16-14 victory over North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake in the Southern California Division III girls’ volleyball regional final Tuesday at Bishop Montgomery.

Quinn and another middle blocker, Nicole Read, who had 16 kills, nine blocks and 12 digs, sparked comebacks by Bishop Montgomery in each game and kept the match from going five games.

The Knights (28-8) needed five games to win the Southern Section Division III-A title over Harvard-Westlake (29-6) two weeks ago.

“I don’t think we were going to let that happen [again],” said Quinn, who has committed to attend UCLA on a basketball scholarship. “We’ve been through that. We knew what they had and they knew what we had. It was just a matter of us playing our game.”

The victory was the Knights’ third over Harvard-Westlake this season. They also defeated the Wolverines in the Orange County tournament in September. The latest victory sends Bishop Montgomery into the state championship match for the first time since 1999.

The Knights will face the winner of the Northern regional final match between Forestville El Molino and San Jose Presentation. Bishop Montgomery lost to El Molino in the 1999 state final.

Justine Davidson led the Wolverines, two-time defending state champions, with 18 kills and 21 digs.

Lauren Peterson

Bakersfield Liberty def. Newport Harbor, 15-4, 16-14, 13-15, 15-12 -- In only its third season of varsity competition, Liberty came out strong early and took advantage of many unforced errors by host Newport Harbor to win the Division II regional final in four tense games.

The victory made up for last season, when Newport Harbor, which has won seven Southern Section and four state titles, whipped its fledgling opponent on the Liberty floor in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Liberty Coach Lean Slayton said the Patriots (31-4) had been waiting for this moment for a year, and when Jodi Hardin’s serve dropped in front of four Sailors for an ace on the final point, Liberty’s bench exploded.

“We wanted to end their season on their home floor,” Slayton said.

Liberty dominated most of the first two games and ran off to a 9-4 lead in the third game, but the Sailors (28-7) caught them at 13 and won on kills by middle blocker Kristin McClune and Alyson Jennings.

-- Paul McLeod

Los Angeles Marymount def. San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s, 11-15, 15-9, 17-15, 15-4--The defense was disheveled and the offense was surprisingly stagnant at the start for Marymount, but there was no sign of panic in the Marymount huddle between the first and second games.

After all, the Sailors are the defending state Division IV champions.

Middle blocker Virginia Levanas had 24 kills and Marymount regrouped to win the next three games to advance to the Division IV championship on Saturday at Cypress College, where it will meet Atherton Menlo, the team it defeated in last year’s title game.

“We were pretty calm,” said Levanas, who has signed with Duke. “We said, ‘Why put all our hard work to waste?’ ”

Levanas, Liz Cvitan (15 kills) and Jamie Kaufman (11 kills) made sure the Sailors (35-4) would get a chance to repeat their title feat of last season.

Levanas and Cvitan each had a kill and a block in the final stages of a third-game comeback, during which the Sailors trailed, 14-11, fought off five game points and won the game on a block by Kaufman.

Polly Bendush had 20 kills for St. Margaret’s (24-5), which lost to Marymount in the state playoffs for a second year in a row.

-- Mike Bresnahan

Long Beach Wilson def. Clovis Buchanan, 14-16, 15-7, 15-5, 11-15, 15-11 -- Cynthia Barboza had 33 kills and Allison Dillon had 98 assists to lead the Bruins (36-3) over host Buchanan (33-6) in the Division I regional final.