This fall, the Santa Clarita Christian School Varsity Girls Volleyball team did what no girls volleyball team in the talent-laden Santa Clarita Valley had ever done. The Cardinals won a CIF-Southern Section championship. The championship came on November 22 in a 3-2 victory over Upland Christian Academy at Fullerton College.
It came at the end of a 15-match winning streak that included a third straight Heritage League title.
SCCS (19-8) came into the post-season tournament ranked No. 1 in the CIF-SS Division 5AA, but the team’s run to the championship was by no means a forgone conclusion. The Cardinals, behind the firepower of junior outside hitter Kylie Brown (a two-time Heritage League MVP), won its first three playoff matches by a combined score of 9-2. But, in the title game, the Cardinals needed to claw their way out of a 1-2 deficit to force a fifth game. And in that fifth game, they trailed 1-4 before righting the ship on their way to a 15-11 win. The Cardinals season continued all the way to the state quarterfinals, where they fell to Parker High of San Diego, the defending state CIF Division 5 champions.
No matter to the Cardinals. They were more than satisfied with their championship. The first for them. The first for the SCV.
photos by Landon Miller and Gwen Indermill