CIF title on line for Breakers

It’s on to tonight’s CIF championship match for the Laguna Beach girls’ volleyball team.

The top-seeded Breakers made the most of the school’s 22nd all-time appearance in a CIF-Southern Section divisional semifinal round match Tuesday and by doing so, now has a shot to repeat as the Division II-AA champion.

The Breakers earned a spot in the 7 p.m. final at Cypress College by sweeping visiting Ayala Tuesday, 25-17, 25-14, 25-18, at Dugger Gym.

It was the first-ever meeting between the schools.

Top-seed Laguna, now 20-7 overall, will take on No. 2-seed Bishop Montgomery in tonight’s final. The Knights reserved a place in the final by beating No. 3-seed Corona del Mar in Tuesday’s other semifinal match.

Laguna beat Corona del Mar in last November’s division final to win the championship.

Tonight marks the school’s 11th trip to a division final and the Breakers have an opportunity to win the school’s fifth overall Southern Section title and third in the last 11 years. This team also has the chance to lead the school to back-to-back CIF championships for the first time in the program’s illustrious history.

“It should be a great match,” Laguna Coach Lance Stewart said. “Bishop Montgomery has a lot of good athletes, a lot of beach volleyball players who have good ball control. They have a left-handed outside hitter (Jennifer Edmond) who is terrific.

“Outside of matches against Mira Costa, Newport Harbor and Archbishop Mitty, they’re the best team we’ll face.”

By defeating Ayala — the champion of the Sierra League who finished its season 23-9 — in three, Laguna has now swept all three of its playoff opponents.

“That speaks to the depth of our program,” Stewart said of his team’s current run in the postseason. “We can’t control who is in our division but we do have some talented athletes who make this program what it is. I mean, we lose two all-CIF players (Mychaela Miller and Zoe Garrett) who are now at USC, and are able to fill their slots with a sophomore (Paulette Grand Pre) and junior (Kameron Combs), and both players are playing out of position this year.

“We also have what I believe is one of the best junior setters in the nation (Alex Palmer) and one of the best outside hitters in the nation in Dana (Hutchinson). Dana’s definitely on of the most athletic players out there. We have a lot of talented players on this team and everyone makes a contribution in one way or another.”

Against Ayala, Hutchinson finished the night with 19 kills and junior left-side hitter Paige Obradovich had 15 digs.

Palmer recorded 35 assists as well as three service aces.

“At this point in our program, we’re not just happy with getting to the finals — we want to win a championship,” Stewart said. “We’ll give it our best shot Friday.”

Laguna opened playoff action Nov. 8 with a 25-13, 25-19, 25-20 second-round sweep of visiting Beckman, the No. 2 team from the Pacific Coast League. Hutchinson had 16 kills and 16 digs, Piper Obradovich 11 kills, Paige Obradovich 16 digs and Palmer 36 assists, as the Breakers improved their all-time series record to 3-0 against the Patriots (16-5).

The win advanced Laguna to the quarterfinal round for the 32nd time in its history (the Southern Section first sponsored playoff championships in 1972) and Nov. 10, the Breakers eliminated visiting St. Joseph of Lakewood, 25-20, 25-20, 25-23. Hutchinson came up with 24 kills and Piper Obradovich had 12 kills. Paige Obradovich had 20 digs and Palmer 28 set assists.

St. Joseph, the Del Rey League runner-up, finished its season with a 21-11 record.