By Michelle Gardner
Staff Writer
LAVERNE – The last thing University of La Verne coach Don Flora wanted was to see his SCIAC rival a third time when it mattered most. That’s what he got. But like the first two times the Leopards prevailed 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-20, 28-26) Saturday at Frantz Athletic Court in the championship match of the Division III West Region tournament.
The win sends the No. 4 Leopards (25-2) into the national tournament for the fifth time in coach Don Flora’s 11-year tenure. That event begins on Thursday at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, Ill.
“I hate that clich that it’s hard to beat a team three times but it’s really true,” Flora said. “The pressure was all on us. They had absolutely nothing to lose. Everyone expected them to lose. That was a great Division III volleyball match. It was two teams going at it strength against strength.”
The most recent meeting wasn’t as easy as the first two. La Verne struggled early on, hitting just .036 in an opening game that No. 14 Cal Lutheran won 25-20 behind the five kills of Megan Thorpe.
But the Leopards upped the level of their play with each of the following games, winning the second 25-22 while hitting .231 and the third 25-20 hitting an even-better .267.
The fourth game featured 17 ties nine lead changes, with no team building more than a three-point lead. The Regals (26-7), who upset Cal State East Bay in Friday’s semifinal, turned aside four match points the first coming at 24-22 when Erin Exline and Lindsay Benson blocked a shot by La Verne’s Brianna Gonzales.
Cal Lutheran (26-7) had a game point at 25-24 but a service error, one of its 12 on the night, evened it at 25. It was tied for the last time at 26 but the Regals’ Allison Kerr landed a shot in the net to give the host team its fifth match point. This time the Leos secured it on a Cal Lutheran hitting error.
“It is definitely a relief to finally be able to think about nationals,” said Gonzales, named the tournament’s most outstanding player. “We worked hard to get here. Even though we played them twice, that didn’t matter. We were just focused on this match.”
Gonzales had 27 kills on 74 attacks. She also had 12 digs and three aces. Crista Jones contributed 16 and Rebecca Villanueva 12. Yesenia Lopez tallied 44 assists and 18 digs and Courtney Boyd had a team-high 25 digs.
Kerr had 14 to lead Call Lutheran which hit .196 on the night.
“There was pressure but we tried to stay calm and not freak out,” junior middle blocker Ashley Morgado said. “We have faith in each other and that helps because that turns the pressure into belief that we’re going to come through.”
The trip to nationals will be the first for all but Gonzales and Madison Bradley who were freshman on the 2005 team that lost the national semifinal to Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“There’s no reason we can’t go there and finish the job,” Gonzaels added.
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