Repeat not for Sage Hill

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — The Sage Hill School girls’ volleyball team wanted a chance to share the Academy League title again. The Lightning missed their final one Tuesday night.

St. Margaret’s stood in the way.

The Tartans clinched their 12th outright league championship in the last 14 years, beating visiting Sage Hill, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17.

Twice St. Margaret’s has split the league crown with rival Sage Hill, in 2005 and 2008. The Tartans made sure it didn’t happen for a third time.

The combined 29 kills from outside hitters Savannah Holte and Jordan Hopper and the Tartans’ dozen service aces proved too much for the Lightning to overcome.

The Tartans, ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA coaches’ poll, remained undefeated in league at 9-0 and improved to 20-2 overall.

With one league match left, No. 4-ranked Sage Hill (11-10, 7-2) has to regroup before the start of the postseason next week. The playoff pairings are going to be released Sunday.

“Our season is not over,” said Sage Hill Coach Dan Thomassen, who’s expecting a first-round match at home. “We had a slow start to the season and we’re closer to where we should be.”

Sage Hill was one victory away from making things interesting in league for the second straight year.

Unlike last year, Sage Hill put itself in a tough spot last month after losing its home league match to St. Margaret’s. For any shot at tying the Tartans in the standings, the Lightning were in a must-win situation on the road.

The start was rough for Sage Hill, falling behind as many as eight points. The Lightning rallied after dropping the first game.

The key for the Lightning turnaround was seeing them jump out in front early in Game 2, staying on top of St. Margaret’s when it got tight, and not allowing the Tartans’ serving game to hurt them as it did in the opening game.

The Lightning continued the same philosophy in Game 3, building a 14-9 lead. Senior outside hitter Lindsey Kish recorded four of her team-high 12 kills during the stretch. She dug balls out as well, finishing with 14 in the match.

Seeing the momentum getting away, St. Margaret’s Coach Susie Maga called a timeout. The Tartans responded by going on a 9-4 spurt of their own, tying the game at 18-18.

St. Margaret’s eventually pushed ahead. Hopper’s three straight kills set things up for Holte to put the game away.

The Brown University-bound senior followed through, hammering a shot to put the Tartans ahead, 2-1, in games.

“We needed to step up our game,” Maga said. “Luckily in the third and fourth [games] we decided to start playing better.”

The Tartans began to get contributions from multiple players.

Sage Hill, behind a Kish ace and one of Tess Wohrle’s 11 kills, kept the fourth game close before St. Margaret’s reached double digits.

Once the Tartans did, they took off on an 11-4 run. The advantage grew to as big as nine points. Six aces in the final game played a role to ending Sage Hill’s hope for a decisive fifth game.

“We knew they were going to serve us tough, and they did,” Thomassen said. “They were hitting their spots. They were serving in between our girls and moving the ball really well. When we were able to pass the ball, we looked really good. We just got to improve in that area for [the playoffs].

“We’ll probably be on the [opposite] side of the bracket to St. Margaret’s, so one of our goals is to get to the finals and we’re assuming [the Tartans are] going to be there.”

If the two teams meet again, Sage Hill can’t wait for another chance to beat its rival for something larger than league, a section championship.