When asked before the match to compare this year’s team to last, Redondo Union girls’ volleyball coach Tommy Chaffins said “We’re grittier.”
That grit was evident in key moments of Tuesday night’s 25-20, 25-19, 25-17 sweep of Mater Dei before a boisterous crowd in the Sea Hawks’ gym as they ended the Monarchs’ 28-match winning streak dating back to early last season.
“We’ve had fantastic fan support here, I want our fans to watch great athletes making great plays and tonight the girls played defense like our boys did last season,” said Chaffins, in his 30th year at the helm of his alma mater, where he has piloted the boys’ program since 1995 and the girls’ since 2001. “Mater Dei is a great team and it’s been a tremendous rivalry over the years. This was a nice early test but they’ll be better as they add more pieces.”
Redondo (9-3) was led by junior outside hitter Abby Zimmerman, who pounded a match-high 13 kills, and the early California commit showed why she is considered one of the top players in Southern California.
“We’re not the biggest or the strongest team, but we’re mentally tough and we know we can push through the difficult moments,” Zimmerman said. “Once we got up two sets we definitely wanted to finish them off in three. There were lots of long rallies which are super fun and get the fans excited. We wanted to limit our service errors to one or two per set, use service pressure to neutralize their middles and get them out of system.”
Middle blocker Sienna Castillo added eight kills for Redondo, which avenged a four-set road defeat last fall. The Sea Hawks won their last Southern Section title in 2019, beating Mater Dei in the final.
Castillo’s ace gave Redondo an 18-14 lead in the first set and she ended it with a stuff block. Mater Dei (4-1) surged to an 11-5 lead in the second set before the Sea Hawks tied it 17-17 on a Zimmerman kill. An ace by Shewa Adefemiwa put Redondo ahead 19-18 and Addi Junk’s serving closed it out. The Florida State beach volleyball commit (along with her twin sister Avery Junk) had 14 digs.
Presley Saunders had eight kills for reigning CIF state Open Division champion Mater Dei, which suffered its first loss since its 18-25, 25-18, 10-15 setback to Cathedral Catholic of San Diego last Sept. 9. The Monarchs — who went 43-2 last season but graduated five starters, including CIF player of the year Isabel Clark (now at the University of San Diego) and state player of the year Julia Kakkis (Brown) — were missing two key hitters who have yet to see action this season. USC-bound Layli Ostavar is nursing a shoulder injury while Westley Matavao is not yet eligible, having transferred from Orange Lutheran.
Mater Dei head coach Dan O’Dell, however, offered no excuses: “They earned it. They served more aggressively and exploited us when they needed to. After 20 [points] we were at our worst.”
