Mater Dei Rallies to Edge Santa Margarita in D1 Volleyball Final

Sometimes one player can get so hot over a stretch of games that he can almost single-handily carry his team to unprecedented heights. On Saturday night at Cypress College, that player continued to do just that for his team.

Zach La Cavera was nearly unstoppable again for Mater Dei. The left-handed opposite hitter pounded shot after shot from all angles of the floor, finishing with a match-high 27 kills including four in the deciding fifth game to help lead the Monarchs to a thrilling 22-25, 25-18, 17-25, 25-20, 18-16 victory over Santa Margarita at the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 Championship Finals at Cypress College.

For Mater Dei, which was unseeded in the playoffs, it was the first CIF championship in boys volleyball in four tries.

“Zach is the man!” cried Adam Cutrell, the Monarch’s first-year coach, who was mobbed by well-wishers after the match. ““He put us on his shoulders and carried us. He is our go-to guy. When we struggled one or two times, we tried to go back to him. When we got those digs, we wanted to go back to the man every time.”

Santa Margarita coach Bryan Cottriel said of La Cavera: “We could not stop him.”

For Santa Margarita, the second seed, it was a difficult loss to swallow. The Eagles had been ranked either No. 1 or 2 all season and had defeated the Monarchs twice in three matches this year. In the final, they held championship point but a kill shot by John Henry tied the score, 15-15. The two teams then traded kill shots.

On the next serve, both teams were scrambling to keep the ball in play when Henry sent a floater over the net and the ball fell untouched in the middle of five astonished Eagles for a 17-16 Monarchs lead. Then, following an exchange of volleys, a loose ball went to Buckley, who shot it wide, ending the match.

“They did everything they needed to do to beat us,” Cottriel said. “We made too many unforced errors in the final two games to beat them. They executed down the stretch and did a great job.”

Santa Margarita was up 2-1 in games after winning Game 3 by eight points and the offense appeared to be in control with only 12 unforced errors and five aces. But leading 10-7 in Game 4, the turning point may have come when the 6-5 Henry stuff-blocked three successive kill attempts by the Eagles, then a point later blocked another, followed by a block by John Zappia to give the Monarchs the lead again.

The Eagles appeared shaken and managed only three kills the rest of the game as the Monarchs took the momentum into the final game to 15.

In Game 5, neither team could get more a one-point lead until a kill by Buckley gave the Eagles a 12-9 lead. But consecutive kills by Zappia and a couple of hitting errors kept the Monarchs in the game, and finally a kill by La Cavera gave the Monarchs the lead for good. Sophomore setter Grady Zant played excellently, making only one error and handing out 42 assists.

Santa Margarita’s loss certainly did not diminish the performance of its players in the final. Buckley led the team with 18 kills, but Ryan Baine was right behind with 17 kills and Mitch Vallis had 12 kills. Setter Taylor Hammonds handed out 43 assists. But the Eagles also committed 23 unforced errors, compared to only 14 for the Monarchs, which was the difference in the match.

The Southern California Regionals begin on Tuesday, with both Santa Margarita and Mater Dei in Division 2 and possibly meeting one more time.