Lightning strikes in quarters

Chris Yemma

It came down to a show of desire in Saturday night’s CIF Southern

Section Division IV-A quarterfinal girls volleyball match -- and it

could have gone either way.

After the score teetered back and forth in the fifth game, Sage’s

Kelsey Lawler served up an ace and Cat Dailey nailed a kill to win

the last game and give the Lightning a 26-24, 25-17, 14-25, 19-25,

19-17 win over visiting Chadwick.

Each team desired it, but Sage (17-6) made it happen and will

advance to the semifinals Tuesday against top-seeded Western

Christian with the site to be determined by a coin flip.

“The last match we won I thought was the biggest win for me and

the team,” Sage Coach Dan Thomassen said. “That was until this one.

The girls have gotten so much better and they’ve been working so

hard.”

The Lightning entered the match as underdogs, with fourth-seeded

Chadwick at 16-5. But Sage came out on its home floor unintimidated

and took the first two games behind the leadership of juniors Dailey

and Vista Murphy, along with rising star Haywood Wright.

Sage even took the second game with relative ease, taking a 13-2

lead and winning by eight. But it wasn’t going to be that easy for

the Lightning, as Chadwick (16-6) rallied and took the next two to

force a fifth game.

“Chadwick really improved [the last three games], but we stopped

passing like we should have,” Thomassen said.

And so it came down to the fifth and final game. With Sage down,

16-15, Dailey tipped it over to tie it. On a double-hit call, Sage

went down, 17-16. Dailey then smashed a kill to tie it, 17-17. And

then Lawler stepped in, served her ace, Dailey wound up her swing,

and Sage sent the Dolphins packing.

“I was so excited, I couldn’t even believe it,” Dailey said. “I

never dreamed we’d get this far.”

Said Lawler about her ace: “I couldn’t even see it when I hit it,

but it felt so good to bring the team back up.”

Dailey finished with 19 kills, five blocks and three aces, while

Murphy had 15 kills, five aces and 11 digs. Haywood had 10 kills for

the Lightning.

After Saturday’s match, Thomassen said he had no idea the team

would make it this far when the season started.

But now that he has seen his girls improve, he has a different

outlook.

“The girls are getting smarter every match,” he said. “If we work

hard enough, this team can beat anyone.”