Bishop Diego Girls Volleyball Advances to CIF-SS Division 3 Championship Match With Four-Set Victory Over Cypress

All the pieces have come together and the Bishop Diego girls volleyball team has found its stride in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 Playoffs.

The Cardinals defeated visiting Cypress 25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 25-19 in a semifinal match on Saturday afternoon at the brick house and punched their tickets to the CIF Championship Match next weekend. 

“It means a lot to our kids. They work really hard. It means a lot to a school and our program. It’s a proud moment for me,” said Bishop Diego coach Dillan Bennett. “When I first got here we were just trying to win a playoff game and here we are in the Division 3 CIF Championship Match.”

Senior UCLA commit Eliana Urzua was once again a dominant force for Bishop Diego. She finished with 28 kills and four blocks.  Senior Loyola Marymount commit Nicole Schuetz racked up 13 kills and two aces.

However, it was the less heralded members of the team that put the Cardinals over the top against Cypress.

Junior Sophia Ott made the most of her opportunities, providing a strong presence at the net and excellent serving that sparked crucial Bishop Diego runs. She finished with five kills, three aces and two blocks.

“As a transfer to come into this community and be able to work as a team and be able to go to the finals is really cool,” Ott said. “It’s an honor to be a part of this team and to do that with everyone.”

Three years ago Bishop Diego captured the CIF Division 7 Championship with Eliana Urzua playing a key role along with her older sisters Alina and Siena. The Cardinals have been building to get back to the point ever since and it appears that the final Urzua sister Karina was the missing piece.

Karina expertly orchestrated the Bishop Diego offense from her setter positing and chipped in four timely dumps to go along with 40 assists, one block and one ace.

“The last two years have been kind of like rebuilding years, kind of waiting for Karina as the setter to come in and obviously Nicole {Schuetz} is a big plus for us  and a positive,” Eliana said. “We’ve been talking about this since after my freshman year and we are all over the moon about it.”

Set one was tight, but a solo block by Eliana Urzua gave Bishop Diego a 24-23 lead. On the ensuing action Cypress failed to return a serve from Wynter Thorne Thomsen and the Cardinals took a 1-0 set lead.

The Cardinals struggled with serving errors in set two and Cypress capitalized. Kendall Harris finished off a long rally with a powerful spike that clinched the second set for the Centurions 25-22.

Eliana Urzua and Schuetz dominated the early stages of set three. An ace serve by Schuetz gave Bishop Diego a 2-0 lead and back-to-back kills by Eliana Urzua put the Cardinals ahead 10-5.

Otte and Thorne-Thomsen combined for a block to put Bishop Diego ahead 23-16. After three straight Cypress points another Ott kill increased the Bishop Diego lead to 24-19. Eliana Urzua went on to close out the set with a cross-court spike spike,

Set four was hotly contested, but a well-timed dump by Karina Urzua put Bishop Diego ahead 19-15. Schuetz accounted for the final two points for Bishop Diego with a spike off the Cypress block and a solo block that clinched set four and the match.

The Cardinals will play Long Beach next Saturday at  6 p.m. in the CIF-SS Division 3 Championship Match. The location is to be determined.

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