Thrilling second set keys Sierra Canyon’s victory over Sage Hill

Reporting from Chatsworth —  As far as a back-to-back CIF Southern Section girls’ volleyball championship team is concerned, all hats go off to Sage Hill School.

The Lightning earned the respect of Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, which won the Division 3 title this year after winning the Division 4 crown the season prior.

Sage Hill senior Jade Blevins had 43 assists and 3½ blocks, but the host Trailblazers survived the scare put forth by Blevins and the Lightning.

Top-seeded Sierra Canyon beat No. 5 Sage Hill 20-25, 33-31, 25-21, 25-15 in the semifinals of the CIF State Southern California Regional Division II playoffs on Tuesday night.

Sierra Canyon advances to the CIF State SoCal Regional final. The Trailblazers (36-7) will play host to No. 2 Pasadena La Salle (28-6) on Saturday at 6 p.m. in a rematch of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 final. Sierra Canyon beat La Salle in four sets on Nov. 11.

An epic second set between Sage Hill and Sierra Canyon was filled with points that looked like they had been played inside of a pinball machine. The teams battled for control of the net, leaving no touch unanswered.

In the mad scramble that was the conclusion of Game 2, the points simply seemed to lose their structure.

“Those were like the craziest and best 10 points of the entire match,” said Trailblazers libero Zoe Fleck, who is heading to UC Santa Barbara. “Both teams were giving every single point their all. That’s what the entire match should have looked like.”

As Game 2 went past regulation, Michigan commit May Pertofsky became a human eraser of set points against Sierra Canyon. The junior outside hitter had 10 kills in the set, four of which came after it was 25-25.

Add the diving digs of Fleck, who had 30 digs in the match, and the Trailblazers were able to pull out a 33-31 set win to even the match.

“That’s where you saw the fire on both sides on how much both teams wanted to win,” Pertofsky said of the thrilling second set. “I respect that team. They’re a very strong team.”

The feeling is mutual for Blevins, who felt proud to share the floor with the back-to-back section champions for her final high school match.

“If we’re going to lose to a team, I’m glad we lost to this team,” she said. “It brought out the best in us. They’re a very good team. They deserve it. They played hard, and so did we.”

Blevins, who signed with the University of Portland in the early signing period, was sought out for hugs when the match was over. Junior outside hitters Amiyah De’Long and Sydnee Francis have started alongside their setter for all three years.

De’Long had a team-high 22 kills to go with two service aces for the Lightning (26-10), and Francis pounded out 17 kills.

The Lightning had 10 blocks as a team. Blevins’ 3½ rejections led the way. Kayla Gratzer had 2½ blocks, Danielle Beder denied two Sierra Canyon attacks, and Emily Elliott had 1½ total blocks.

It was another area of the game that gave the Trailblazers problems early on.

“We didn’t expect their serving to be as hard as it was,” Pertofsky said. “They’re a very strong serving team, and that threw us off our rotations.”

Zoie Stewart, a 6-foot-3 junior middle blocker, helped Sierra Canyon take the lead for the first time. She had five kills and two blocks in the third set, which the Trailblazers won 25-21.

She did not let up in Game 4, replicating the effort with five kills and 2½ blocks in the decisive set. Pertofsky’s 26th kill ended the match.

Freshman setter Taylor Simpson had 42 assists, three kills, two blocks and two aces for Sierra Canyon. Stewart had 19 kills and six blocks, and Jaylen Jordan added 10 kills in the match.

Sierra Canyon has won seven matches in a row and 19 of its last 20.

Sage Hill, the undefeated Academy League champion, was playing in a regional semifinal under coach Dan Thomassen for the first time since 2014.

[email protected]

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner