All-American Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani won her third CIF championship in four years Saturday leading Redondo to the CIF Southern Section Division 1AA title in front of a packed gym at Cerritos College.
Bedart-Ghani, who had won two CIF titles with Marymount prior to transferring to Redondo, used her powerful swing to spark the top-seeded Sea Hawks to a 25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20 victory over third-seeded Mater Dei. Her 22 kills led them the team.
“This win is amazing,” said Bedart-Ghani, who has committed to the University of Texas. “Our whole team fought so hard. We had a couple of rocky games during CIF (playoffs) but we knew we had to handle our business tonight and we put it together. I’m so lucky to have this great group of girls around me. I’m so happy for them.”
Redondo (35-2) ended a seven-year drought after winning its first CIF title in 2006. It was the second championship for head coach Tommy Chaffins who has built Redondo into one of the top programs in the state.
“(Bedart-Ghani) was unbelievable,” Chaffins said. “She’s one of the hardest hitters in her class, if not the hardest hitter.”
Redondo opened the match strong, never trailing after Abril Bustamante’s block gave the Sea Hawks a 7-6 lead in a first set. Redondo’s largest lead in the first game was only three points.
Mater Dei (28-11) responded in the second set, scoring five consecutive points to take a 23-18 lead. Two kills and two aces by Megan Rice helped Redondo close the gap at 24-23 before a hitting error gave the Monarchs the win.
Mater Dei held a 13-8 lead in the third set but Redondo battled back, finally taking a 20-19 lead. Consecutive aces by Amanda Tsao increased the margin and Bedart-Ghani’s kill gave Redondo a 2-1 edge.
Redondo’s serving game was on track, recording 10 aces while Mater Dei had four.
“We hadn’t been scoring that much on our serves,” said Tsao, who finished with four aces. “Our coach had a really good plan to top off our serves and serve to certain people and it really worked.”
Bustamante, a three-year starter for the Sea Hawks, said it felt great to finally win a championship and thought winning the third set was critical.
“After the second set, we needed to focus on our side – particularly our passing and execution,” Bustamante said. “We focused a lot on our blocking and how to adjust to them and I think we did just that.”
Redondo carried the momentum into the fourth set and never trailed, opening up a 21-14 lead.
Mater Dei pulled to within 23-20 on a kill by USC-bound Alyse Wallace-Ford but kills by Rice and Bedart-Ghani sealed the win and the CIF title.
Wallace-Ford, who had a game high 25 kills, was the focus of Redondo’s attention.
“Shutting down Alyse was our goal,” Bedart-Ghani said. “She’s such an amazing player and I think we did a good job limiting her touches.”
Redondo’s all-CIF setter Norene Iosia spread the ball around recording 52 assists and and Kristen Hamlin was a force at the net.
Bustamante finished with 15 kills; Rice added 14 kills and 13 digs and Tsao recorded 13 digs.
Redondo advances to the CIF State Championships presented by Farmers and will host Palisades Tuesday at 7 p.m. Brackets and results are available at cifstate.org.
