Central sweeps Buchanan for NorCal girls volleyball title to advance to state final

This time, the advantage was in favor of the Central High girls volleyball team and they’re headed to the state championship..

The fifth-seeded Grizzlies swept No. 1 Buchanan 25-23, 25-22, 28-26 in the CIF Northern California Regional Open Division final on Tuesday night.

“We wanted to make a run in the state playoffs,” Central coach Randy Burriss said. :”This is a run right here, isn’t it? To go to the state championship in the Open Division ... that’s unreal.”

Central (39-5) moves on to face Mater Dei-Santa Ana for the state title on Saturday at Santiago Canyon College in Orange. The match begins at 6:30 p.m.

Mater Dei, which defeated Marymount-Los Angeles in five sets in the SoCal final Tuesday, defeated Central in two sets in September at the Durango Tournament in Las Vegas. The Monarchs are 42-2 and ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps.

For now, the Grizzlies will enjoy this win because it hadn’t gone Central’s’ way the past two seasons in the SoCal regionals, bouncing out in the first round each time.

This year, they were placed in the North and made two trips to the Bay Area, beating No. 4-seed Logan-Union City in three sets and top-seed Sacred Heart-San Francisco in five sets.

Thanks to Buchanan’s two home routs in the regionals, Central’s trip to the final was just 18 miles. This was the fourth time Central and Buchanan (35-8) met this season, with the previous match in the Bears’ favor in four sets for the Central Section Division I title on Nov. 3. The teams split in Tri-River Athletic Conference play to share the TRAC crown.

Central senior outside hitters Makayla Lewis and Amethyst Harper finished with 20 kills and 17 kills, respectively.

“At the beginning of the season, we made a pyramid of our goals and the state championships was at the top of our goals,” Harper said. “Since we won Valley last year, we decided to set our goals higher because we did fall short in state last year.”

Central trailed 19-17 in the third set, but rallied and capped the match on Lewis’ kill.

Lewis said she wasn’t surprised her team played Buchanan again.

“We both wanted more and it was a matter who wanted to win more,” Lewis said. “I told my team don’t give up, we’re ahead and we have to play like a team and we can’t let anyone think we’re not going to win. Accomplishing this is probably like the best of like the best.”

This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 10:46 PM.