Lancers Top San Gabriel in Volleyball Semifinals

The Southern Section is rapidly running run out of divisions for the Thousand Oaks High girls’ volleyball team to compete in.

The Lancers, 2-time Southern Section 2-A Division champions, destroyed San Gabriel, the defending state Division II champion, 15-1, 15-6, 15-12, in a 4-A semifinal match Thursday night that lasted less than an hour at Arcadia High.

Thousand Oaks’ win avenged last season’s state semifinal loss to the previously unbeaten San Gabriel and sends the Lancers into the 4-A final Saturday night against Gahr, a 15-9, 15-5, 15-11 winner over Edison on Thursday. The championship match, at Marina High, is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.

“One, six and 12. Holy moly . . . that’s incredible,” Thousand Oaks Coach Ron Beick said. “The quality of volleyball has been much better in the 4-A than we saw in the 2-A. I’m proud that the program can jump to 4-A and continue to win.”

And how. Thousand Oaks, which improved to 19-1, has cruised through the first 4 rounds of the playoffs, winning 12 of 13 games.

“That was so great,” setter Amy Chellevold said. “Our team has jelled together so well. Nobody is going to beat us.”

San Gabriel (19-1) certainly didn’t get a chance. After San Gabriel failed to score on its first serve, Thousand Oaks’ Shauna Campbell served 6 consecutive points.

The Lady Matadors finally snapped that string and scored a point, but Thousand Oaks scored the game’s last 9 points for the win.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Thousand Oaks outside hitter Jamie Heggen, who led the team with 9 kills. “They looked a little intimidated.”

Said Beick: “We hit stride real fast. We seem to be peaking at the right time.”

Thousand Oaks flattened out in the third game, when San Gabriel jumped to a 8-0 lead.

Although the Lancers were still working on a 2-game lead, Beick was worried.

“I didn’t want to let them take the game easy and swing the momentum,” he said. “I’ve seen teams take 3 games like that.”

Not this night. Both teams traded points until the score was 10-5. Thousand Oaks then rallied to score 10 of the last 12 points to win the game and the match.

“Right when it was 10-5, that’s when we started attacking again. The momentum swung back on our side,” Beick said. “To be down 8-0 with that much momentum against them shows how strong this team is.”

Added Chellevold: “I’ve never seen them play that bad. But I think we did that to them.”