Sage Hill nears summit

The Lightning stumble briefly, but win to reach their first CIF title match in girls’ volleyballNEWPORT COAST -- The month of November seems to have brought a magic touch to the Sage Hill School girls’ volleyball team.

In less than seven days, Sage has four postseason victories, including a 25-19, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16 win over Viewpoint in a CIF-Southern Section Division IV-A semifinal match Tuesday. The victory sent the Lightning to their first CIF Southern Section championship match.

Their next foe will be Academy League rival St. Margaret’s, which defeated Chadwick in the other semifinal.

“It’s amazing to be a part of this,” junior setter Kelsey Lawler said. “I’m still in shock about it. It feels so good, especially since this is as far as we got last year.”

After winning the first game, Sage took a 12-6 lead in the second game, but Viewpoint took advantage of Lightning errors. Viewpoint grabbed the momentumand closed out the game.

Vista Murphy found the opening for Sage Hill in the third game, getting two kills to give the Lightning a 23-22 lead. Another kill by Murphy ended the third game.

“We weren’t too smooth in the first two games,” said Sage Coach Dan Thomassen. “It took us until the middle of the third game to adjust.”

The fourth game was settled early, after Sage took a 14-7 lead. The Lightning maintained a six-point lead to claim a piece of history.

Murphy had 18 kills, and teammate Cat Dailey added 16 kills.

20051116AK1L0ANQNo Caption20051116iq16apknDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Sage Hill’s Haywood Wright, left, gets up high as teammate Vista Murphy, right, looks on during the Lightning’s match against Viewpoint.