St. Joseph girls volleyball loses to Chaminade in CIF-SS Division 3 quarterfinals
LAKEWOOD — The St. Joseph girls volleyball team knew it would be in for a challenge in its CIF-Southern Section Division 3 quarterfinal match versus Chaminade Wednesday.
St. Joseph’s Odeyale Hadassan tries to hit one past Chaminade’s Keira Brady and Maile Moiso in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Emma Jones tries to hit the ball past Chaminade’s Keira Brady and Maile Moiso in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Sasha Luzina tries to hit it past Chaminade’s Auden Gofberg and Danit Cohen in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Julia Reush tries to hit the ball past Chaminade’s Jade Fitzbringer in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Chloe Olson returns the serve as the Jesters take on Chaminade in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Julia Reush tries to hit the ball past Chaminade’s Auden Gofberg in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Emma FaAlogo sets up the ball as the Jesters take on Chaminade in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Emma FaAlogo and Chaminade’s Maile Moiso go up for the ball in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Chaminade’s Danit Cohen and Auden Gofberg block the hit by St. Joseph’s Natalia Marquez in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Julia Reush and Hadassan Odeyale go up for the block as the Jesters take on Chaminade in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Julia Reush goes up for the hit as the Jesters take on Chaminade in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Chaminade players celebrate as they lead St. Joseph in the CIF SS Division 3 quarterfinals in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Chaminade players celebrate as they lead St. Joseph in the CIF-SS Division 3 quarterfinals in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Emma Faalogo and Emma Jones up for the block as the Jesters take on Chaminade in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Chaminade’s Keira Brady and Auden Gofberg try to block St. Joseph’s Julia Reush hit in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Chaminade’s Maile Moiso goes up for the hit as they take on St. Joseph in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Sasha Luzina goes up for the hit as the Jesters take on Chaminade in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Chaminde’s Jade Fitzbringer tries to hit the ball past St. Joseph’s Hadassah Odeyale and Julia Reush in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
St. Joseph’s Emma Jones and Hailey Quinones try to block Chaminade’s Shayla Martinez’ shot as the two teams battle it out in Lakewood, CA, on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. (Photo by Tracey Roman, Contributing Photographer)
Chaminade sported a winning streak that stretched back to mid-September and finished the season ranked second in the final CIF poll.
St. Joseph put on a valiant effort in a 25-15, 25-15, 25-19 loss to the Eagles that ended its season.
Coach Alicia lemau’u saw her team struggle to implement its strategy.
“Our serve receive threw us out of system,” she said. “Our game is focused on that pocket pass and we couldn’t get that ball where we wanted it to run our offense and we became readable. Going against a team like Chaminade, you’re not going to get away with those things.”
Still, Lemau’u had a positive feeling about St. Joseph’s season.
“We had a lot of adversity going into the transition from the old coach,” Lemau’u said. “My personality from coach Jerry, the girls had to adapt to that. To just turn it around and put it together throughout the season, it couldn’t have gone any better.”
Julia Reush led St. Joseph (19-12, 6-2) with seven kills in the loss. Emma Fa’alogo drove the Jesters’ offense with 17 assists and four kills. Hailey Quinones had three aces, while Sasha Luzina and Hadassan Odeyale each had a block on defense.
Jade Fitzbringer and Keira Brady led Chaminade (35-2, 7-1) with 11 kills each; Brady added two aces. Danit Cohen led both teams with 25 assists. Auden Gofberg headed up the defensive effort with three-and-a-half blocks.
Chaminade struggled early as St. Joseph took an 8-6 lead off a kill by Emma Jones and seven unforced errors by the Eagles. Chaminade adjusted, taking a 17-12 lead with four kills from Fitzbringer. St. Joseph struggled with unforced errors late in the set, surrendering eight errors among Chaminade’s final 11 points. The Eagles prevailed 25-15 in set one.
Fitzbringer credit the team’s energy and mentality for surviving its early mistakes.
“Regroup, take a deep breath; we got this,” Fitzbringer said. “You’ve got to have a dog mentality. If we miss the next point, shake it off. The team came together with energy.”
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Chaminade separated again in set two. Three kills by Fitzbringer, two consecutive aces and a kill by Brady and two blocks by Gofberg propelled Chaminade to a 25-15 win to take a 2-0 set lead.
Two early Kills from Luzina and a kill from Odeyale had the Jesters leading early in set three. A Back-to-back ace and block combination by Quinones and Odeyale kept St. Joseph close through the middle of the set before Chaminade pulled away 25-19 to win set three and the match.
