State title not in cards

After a string of impressive sweeps, the Laguna Beach High girls’ volleyball team found itself swept out of the CIF State Division III playoffs in the Southern California Regional final Tuesday.

Laguna (23-8) fell one victory shy of reaching the CIF State Division III title match for a second straight year, as the Breakers were defeated by host Harvard-Westlake, 25-15, 25-15, 25-23, before a boisterous crowd at the North Hollywood school.

“It just wasn’t our night,” Breakers Coach Lance Stewart said. “If you can’t control the ball, which we didn’t, then it’s tough to get into a rhythm. We were off all night.”

Laguna had entered Tuesday’s regional final having swept its past nine opponents, including six in the postseason. The CIF Southern Section Division II-AA champions also came in riding an 11-match win streak and hadn’t lost a match since being swept by Archbishop Mitty at the Torrey Pines Challenge in mid-October.

But Tuesday, the Breakers, the second-seed in the Division III regional, couldn’t find its game while the top-seeded Wolverines could do little wrong.

Laguna was playing in its fourth regional final since 1996.

Harvard-Westlake (29-4), which won the CIF-SS Division I-A title two weeks ago, advances to compete Saturday for the Division III State title at San Jose State University.

Senior Dana Hutchinson had 14 kills and seven digs and senior Paige Obradovich had 10 kills in their final match for the Breakers.

Junior Alex Palmer had 23 assists.

Laguna had advanced to the regional final for the second-straight year by defeating visiting Cathedral Catholic of the San Diego Section, 25-19, 25-21, 25-17, Saturday at Dugger Gym.

Hutchinson finished with a match-best 25 kills to go along with 13 digs and four aces. Palmer came up with 30 assists, Paige Obradovich had 16 digs and sister Piper, a junior, had eight kills. Sophomore Paulette Grand Pre had six kills.

Harvard-Westlake had advanced to Tuesday’s regional final by defeating visiting Bishop Montgomery, the team Laguna swept in the CIF-SS Division II-AA final Nov. 16, 19-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-22, in the other semifinal played Saturday.

“It was just a great year,” Stewart said. “We won league, won a CIF title and beat some decent teams at the San Diego (Torrey Pines) tournament. We played some really good volleyball at the end of the year. We just didn’t sustain it long enough and came up short Tuesday, but that match is not indicative of the outstanding season the girls had. It was just a fun year.”

Members of Laguna’s 2007 CIF-SS Division II-AA championship team are senior Meaghan Flynn, senior Paige Obradovich, junior Piper Obradovich, senior Hutchinson, senior Rebekah Farrar, sophomore Alex Rieckhoff, senior Laurielle Hofer, junior Kameron Combs, freshman MacKenzie Hester, freshman Chanel Stewart, sophomore Kassidy Burgess, sophomore Paulette Grand Pre, head coach Lance Stewart and assistant coaches Stephen Astor, Paula Austin, Jamie Swintek and Mike Stafford.

“This senior class of players was incredible,” Stewart said. “Several of them have been on the varsity for four years and they came in at the right time when the program needed them most. The program won five matches total the two years before they came into the program, and these girls certainly have left their mark.”