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Girls Beach Volleyball Plays First-Ever CIF-SS Playoff Match
In the sport’s third year of CIF-SS participation and the second year of CIF-SS playoffs, the Dana Hills girls beach volleyball team qualified for the CIF-SS postseason for the first time.
Dana Hills opened the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs on the road at Palos Verdes on Thursday, April 18, but results were not available at press time.
The Palos Verdes-Dana Hills winner will play at No. 5 Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 20, at 3 p.m. Huntington Beach had a first-round bye.
Dana Hills finished third in the South Coast League with a 10-4 record behind second-place Aliso Niguel (11-6) and league champion Tesoro (14-1). In addition to the top three teams, San Clemente (8-8) and San Juan Hills (7-7) also qualified for the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs. In girls beach volleyball, the South Coast League competes as an eight-team league.
In its third year, Dana Hills featured a total of 36 girls in the girls beach volleyball program coached by Stephanie Kislig and Alicia Zamparelli. The Dolphins usually practiced and played at Doheny State Beach, although scheduling conflicts and lack of state park permits occasionally got in the way.
Dana Hills looks to continue developing this growing program in the coming years to keep up in this hotbed of the sport on the Orange County coast.
Roxy Meyer Wins Triple Gold in Jumps at OC Championships
Dolphin blue soared over the Orange County Track and Field Championships, as senior Roxy Meyer jumped to gold on Saturday, April 13, at Mission Viejo High School.
Meyer captured county titles in the girls high jump, long jump and triple jump to almost single-handedly place Dana Hills fifth in the team standings.
Meyer set a personal record in the triple jump with a mark of 38 feet, 11.5 inches, and the senior hit another personal record in the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 6 inches. Both winning marks were one foot better than second place.
In the high jump, Meyer tied for the highest clearance with two other jumpers at 5 feet even, but Meyer earned the county championship by accomplishing the mark in fewer attempts.
The one other gold medalist for Dana Hills at the county championships came on the boys side, with senior Jayden Hernandez winning the 1,600-meter seeded race with a personal-record time of 4:15.19.
Back-to-back cross country state champion Evan Noonan did not run at the Orange County Championships, but he is expected to run at the Mt. SAC Relays this weekend.
Dana Hills had three other athletes earn podium positions at the Orange County Championships.
Junior Sydni Harden earned third place in the girls pole vault with a clearance of 11 feet even. Three vaulters were tied for the mark but Harden accomplished it in fewer attempts.
Junior Annie Ivarsson set a personal record in the girls 800-meter run at 2:12.61 to take third place.
Sophomore Oliver Hunter ran to third place in the boys 3,200 meters with a time of 9:22.05.
Baseball Playoff Race Goes Down to Final Series
For the second straight season, Dana Hills baseball’s race for the final playoff spot in the South Coast League will come down to its final series of the regular season next week,
After dropping two tight games in a three-game set with Mission Viejo last week, Dana Hills (8-15, 4-5) sits in third place in the South Coast League behind Mission Viejo (13-10, 4-3) and ahead of Capistrano Valley (8-13, 3-5) and Trabuco Hills (3-5). The Dolphins play Capistrano Valley in a three-game set next week.
Dana Hills had the opportunity to jump back ahead of Mission Viejo last week, but the Dolphins were held scoreless over 11 innings in their rubber-match finale with the Diablos last Friday, April 12. Mission Viejo won the game, 2-0.
Dana Hills played two non-league games this week–a 3-1 home win over Capistrano Valley Christian on Tuesday, April 16, and a 6-3 road loss at Ocean View on Wednesday, April 17–ahead of their decisive league-ending series with Capistrano Valley.
Last season, the Dolphins were the hunters against Trabuco Hills, who simply needed to hold off Dana Hills with one win in the final three games to clinch the final playoff spot. Dana Hills finished a hard charge with a three-game sweep capped by a walk-off win to leapfrog the Mustangs and qualify for the CIF-SS playoffs.
This season, there could be a three-way tie for second place entering the final week of the regular season, with four teams capable of capturing the two South Coast League playoff spots up for grabs.
As of press time, Mission Viejo had two games left with league-leading Tesoro (15-7, 7-3). If the Diablos lost both games, they would drop back into a tie with Dana Hills. If Mission Viejo splits those games, it would be one game ahead of the Dolphins.
Capistrano Valley has one game left this week with Trabuco Hills on Friday, April 19. The winner of that game will move into a tie with Dana Hills, with the loser just one game behind.
Dana Hills hosts two of its three games with Capistrano Valley with home games on Tuesday, April 23, and Thursday, April 25. Capistrano Valley hosts on Wednesday, April 24.
Mission Viejo hosts two of its three games with Trabuco Hills, with home games next Tuesday and Thursday. Trabuco Hills hosts that Wednesday.
Tesoro finishes its league schedule at Mission Viejo this Thursday and Friday. The Titans could clinch at least a share of the league title with one win in those two games, while the rest of the league plays out for the final two playoff spots next week.
No matter the South Coast League results this week, it all ends in another mad dash for the CIF-SS playoffs.