The last time St. Joseph's volleyball team had made it past the first round of the playoffs was ...

“Twenty years ago,” Knights senior Alexis Dudley said proudly Tuesday night.

The Knights are past the first round now. Dudley spoke after she and her teammates edged Paramount 25-19, 19-25, 22-25, 25-23, 17-15 in a suspenseful first-round CIF Southern Section Division III-AA match at St. Joseph's Hofschulte Gym that took two hours.

St. Joseph (10-7) takes on the La Quinta (La Quinta)-Covina Charter Oak winner at 7 p.m. Thursday. If La Quinta won Tuesday night, the Knights will play there. If Charter Oak prevailed, a coin flip today will determine the site.

The Knights are the Los Padres League runners-up. Paramount finished third in the San Gabriel Valley League.

The Knights finally finished the Pirates off when Dudley tipped a well-placed shot into a gap in the Paramount defense and on to the floor after the Pirates fought off three match points.

Was Dudley confident when she hit the shot? “Well, I was hoping,” she said with a laugh.

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“I am so proud of this team,” Dudley said. “To come as far as we have and to want it as much as we did.”

St. Joseph coach Tammy Hartman had to do some lineup switching on short notice.

Knights setter Mariah Vail “tore up her ankle in practice yesterday,” Hartman said Tuesday night. “Lizzie Mitchell had to play libero because of that. She usually doesn't play there.

“Alexis is usually our libero. Because of the injury, we had to move her too.” Dudley was one of St. Joseph's main setters Tuesday night.

The Pirates usually dealt with St. Joseph season kill leader Dayna Drewniak pretty well, but Drewniak had her hot streaks. She led St. Joseph in kills Tuesday night with eight.

She also led the Knights in digs with 18. Shayli Swaim and Natasha Kolbo had six kills each for St. Joseph. Kolbo made 10 digs. Swaim had nine.

“We didn't dig as many balls as we usually do,” said Hartman.

Still, “The difference for us in the last two games, compared to games two and three, was that in games two and three we let way too many balls drop. That didn't happen the last two games.

“There were bodies flying all over the place,” said Hartman. “I was proud of them. They did well.”

Even though the Knights won the first game, the Pirates were gathering momentum as the last part of it went along.

Mitchell served points nine-through-16 as the Knights broke to a 16-5 lead. The Knights made it 19-6 thanks mainly to a successful formula - a good Mitchell pass, followed by a good Dudley set, followed by a kill.

Lucero Lopez, Nataly Baragan and Lani Samoa led a Paramount back row defense that steadied at that point, and St. Joseph had trouble putting the ball down for kills.

The Pirates didn't have any big hitters, but Samoa and Adrian Henson gave the Knights enough trouble with their shots to help carry Paramount through the next two games.

After that, a key play here and a key play there boosted the Knights. Kolbo made two saves off of shots that hit the ceiling. Both resulted in St. Joseph points.

Mary Clare Regali had three kills, but all of them were Paramount momentum-stallers, and two of them helped the Knights win game four and stay alive.

Mitchell said, “(The Pirates) were really scrappy - like a Cabrillo or a Morro Bay from our league.

“It's good to play a team like that. They go after every shot. It makes things more interesting.”

The match was marred when Paramount's Gabriela Gonzales hit her head on the floor after she and a teammate bumped together as they were going for a St. Joseph shot. Gonzales didn't go back into the match, but she did stay at the match with her teammates.

Santa Ynez 3, Eastside (Lancaster) 0

Santa Ynez put on the sort of performance coach Chip Fenenga hopes to see throughout the playoffs.

“I am really proud of the girls' efforts,” Fenenga said. “I'd like to bottle their effort tonight and keep it for the rest of the playoffs. They were composed, confident and relaxed.”

Senior Kelsey Soos was especially sharp, serving 13 straight points to start the third game, and 21 points overall. She also had five aces and five kills as the Pirates routed Eastside of Lancaster 25-7, 25-13, 25-6 in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs.

Santa Ynez next faces Palm Desert on Thursday. Palm Desert was a 3-0 winner over Los Altos on Tuesday. A coin flip will decide the location.

“She showed poise, composure and leadership,” Fenenga said. “She distributed the ball to everyone evenly tonight. All of her CIF leadership showed through in all three games tonight.”

Ali Squires went 9-for-9 in kill attempts, and also provided six assists.

Also, “We got a tremendous lift from our defensive efforts, led by Nicole Tomasini and Skyler Jacobsen,” Fenenga said. “Nicole and Skyler combined for nine digs and 18 points off of their serves, too.”

Faith Baptist 3, Valley Christian Academy 1

Lizzie Horstmann put in a yeoman's effort on defense, however, it was not enough as VCA fell to visiting Faith Baptist 12-25, 16-25, 25-19, 13-25 in a Division V-AA First Round CIF Southern Section playoff match.

Horstmann finished with 20 blocks and six kills. Jackie Drapeau set up a number of teammtes, while Adrianne Scheetz finished with seven digs. Alyssa Fortier had four kills.

Downey 3, Cabrillo 0

Downey defeated Cabrillo 25-12, 25-20, 25-11 in a CIF Southern Section Division III-AA first round volleyball match.

No other details were provided.

The playoff volleyball slate was heavy Tuesday night.

Only Arroyo Grande got through in Division I-A. The Eagles swept San Marcos 3-0. Arroyo Grande's fellow PAC-7 members Paso Robles (by Dos Pueblos), Atascadero (by Los Angeles-based Notre Dame Academy) and San Luis Obispo (Valencia of Valencia) were all swept in three games.

Dunn moved through in Division IV-AA, sweeping Lancaster Paraclete. In Division V-AA, Coastal Christian defeated Granada Hills-based Hillcrest Christian 3-1, but Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth swept Shandon.

November 12, 2008