Watching her shot bounce off the hardwood, Kyla Doig jumped as high in celebration as she did making the kill. The freshman had put the punctuation mark on an impressive Redondo victory Tuesday night that sends the defending champion Sea Hawks back to the CIF-Southern Section Division 1AA finals for a rematch against Mater Dei.
Doig finished the match with 11 kills and five blocks and looked liked a veteran while helping Redondo defeat visiting Huntington Beach 25-14, 25-18, 22-25, 25-16.
“Last year, I would come to every Redondo game and sit there thinking about how I couldn’t wait to get on the court and play for a championship,” Doig said. “This feels amazing and my team has been behind me all year. I was going through a rough patch where I wasn’t as aggressive and swinging as hard. Now I’m going after everything and feeling better out there.”
While Doig will be playing in her first CIF championship match, senior setter Norene Iosia will be competing in her third title match in four years.
“I’m happy to go back,” Iosia said. “It will be fun to play Mater Dei because it’s such a great rivalry.”
The Sea Hawks beat the Monarchs in four sets to win the 2014 CIF-SS Division 1AA championship and later in the State Southern California Regional championship match.
Top-seeded Redondo (33-3) will face Mater Dei (26-7) for the title Saturday at 8 p.m. at Cerritos College. Mater Dei finished the regular season ranked No. 5 in the division and is coming off wins over third-seeded Mira Costa and second-seeded Great Oak.
Redondo dominated Huntington Beach in the first two sets before the Oilers pulled out to a 19-12 lead in the third game. A Sea Hawk rally closed the gap to 23-22 before dropping the set but the momentum carried over into the fourth set with Redondo taking a commanding 14-5 lead and never looking back.
“Huntington Beach is a great team and was not going to quit,” Redondo coach Tommy Chaffins said. “They were like Dracula – we just couldn’t kill ‘em. We were pretty on tonight and needed to be. We’re really happy that we qualified for State and reach the finals of Division 1AA, the toughest division in the nation.”
Using a powerful swing combined with a soft touch on drop shots that found holes in the Huntington Beach defense, senior Megan Rice led Redondo with 22 kills while the Sea Hawk defense set up a wall at the net that recorded 18 blocks.
“We really pulled it together except a little hiccup in the third,” Rice said. “Our experience from last year has helped us keep our poise. We couldn’t wait to play the fourth set. They (Huntington Beach) have really smart hitters and our middle honored that and took the smart scenes, not just the obvious ones, which is why our blocking was so tough.”
Iosia would like nothing more than to finish her illustrious career with back-to-back CIF Division 1AA and State titles. The three-time All-CIF selection turned in another stellar performance setting up the Sea Hawk offense.
Considered a coach on the court, Iosia has been impressed with Doig’s play this season.
“Kyla is wise beyond her years. She really doesn’t need to be told anything by me except to just get the job done,” Iosia said. “I did give her a little advice and that was to embrace every moment because the four years in high school will go by fast.”
