Preseason
As dawn broke on the 2023 girls volleyball campaign, head coach Henry Valiente was excited about the future. The Lancers had six senior returners and a good mix of young, talented underclassmen.
Regular Season
OLu opened the season on the Hawaiian Islands, playing in the Ann Kang Invitational. The Lancers struggled in the prestigious tournament, going 2-6.
But the quality competition they played helped them as they returned to the mainland. OLu won 5 of their first six regular season tilts, including wins over Corona Del Mar and Ontario Christian.
At the Whitter Classic, the Lancers went 6-1, losing in the finals to Los Alamitos.
As Trinity League play arrived, OLu found themselves at 13-8 overall. They went 4-4 in league play, beating Rosary twice and splitting contests with JSerra and Santa Margarita.
The Lancers concluded the regular season 22-13 overall and were slotted into the Dicision Division 2 bracket as the #4 overall seed.
Playoffs
In the first round, the Lancers played a familiar foe: Etiwanda. It was the third straight postseason the Lancers faced off with the Eagles on the road. OLu came out victorious 3-0 to advance to round 2.
They returned to the road to take on defending CIF Champ Aliso Niguel. It took all five sets and a rally from 2-1 down, but the Lancers outlasted Aliso to advance to the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win.
Back home for the first time in the postseason, OLu hosted Edison in front of a packed house in the Ellwein Center. The Lancers used that crowd to storm to a 15-point first-set victory. Despite the Chargers taking game 2, the Lancers fed off the crowd as they took both sets 3 and 4 to win 3-1.
The win propelled the Lancers to the CIF Semifinals for the first time since 2017. They will travel to take on #1 seed Redondo Union on Saturday, October 28.
Related: Westley Matavao helps lift Orange Lutheran girls volleyball past Edison in CIF-SS quarterfinals
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Topics from this blog: Athletics
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