CIF Prep Girls Volleyball: Del Norte High’s rally falls short in SoCal Regional semifinals
By Michael Bower
The Del Norte High girls volleyball team could have just thrown in the towel and called it a great year after going down 2-0 to Rim of the World in the CIF Division III Southern California Regional semifinals.
But that is not the type of character the Nighthawks have shown throughout this season. These Nighthawks proved to be fighters, and they fought all the way to the bitter finish Saturday night.
Second-seeded Del Norte stormed back behind an electric home crowd to even the match at 2-all, but the third-seeded Fighting Scots pulled out the final set 15-9 to take the match 3-2 and end the Nighthawks’ historic season.
“It’s bittersweet,” said setter Jordan Gerwig, whose eight straight serve points in Game 3 ignited the comeback by Del Norte. “I never thought we would come this far. I believed in us, but we are just so new nobody expected it.”
Del Norte (30-8) is only in its third year with a varsity program and the list of accomplishments is a long one. The Nighthawks went 10-0 in Valley League play to capture the program’s first league title. They then advanced to their first CIF San Diego Section Division III final, where they played defending state champion Cathedral Catholic tough in a 3-1 loss.
That’s not all. Del Norte traveled to Eagle Rock in Los Angeles Tuesday for its first state playoff match in program history. The Nighthawks won 3-0 to earn Saturday night’s first state playoff event ever held at Del Norte High. Even though the match didn’t turn out the way the Nighthawks wanted, the players can still hold their heads high.
“A league title, giving Cathedral Catholic a good run, making it to the semifinals of the Southern California Regional -- not bad for a third-year program,” Del Norte coach Nathan Rendon said. “The girls have accomplished a lot this year and I am very proud of them.”
Del Norte was one game away from advancing to the SoCal Regional championship match, which was hard to believe after the Nighthawks lost Game 1 25-15 and Game 2 25-18. But after the Game 2 loss, Del Norte regrouped and showed its fight.
“Our coach always tells us to be the best person at our position, and we just really needed to stop playing as individuals and play as a team,” Gerwig said. “We knew this could be our last match, so we went out there and gave it our all.”
The Nighthawks captured Game 3 thanks to a 9-1 run behind the serving of Gerwig. The junior had four aces during that span to boost the Nighthawks’ lead to 18-9.
McClaren Kennedy came alive in Game 4 for Del Norte. The 5-foot, 10-inch junior outside hitter posted six kills and served five straight winning points to help the Nighthawks build a 19-13 lead before taking the game 25-22.
“She has been great for us all season long,” Rendon said of Kennedy. “Her rising to the occasion is not a shock. It was a good thing to see and good timing.”
The Nighthawks trailed 2-0 to start Game 5, but a Lexi Reddick kill capped a 5-1 run to put Del Norte ahead 5-3. The Fighting Scots, though, rallied behind senior Raena Borcuk to score six of the next seven points to take a 10-6 lead. The Nighthawks were never able to recover.
“They are a great team,” Gerwig said of Rim of the World. “We played our best and left it all out there and that is all you can ask for.”
The Nighthawks will be graduating three seniors from the squad: Tammy Allen, Reddick and Sierra Rhoades. All three played key roles in helping build the foundation of the Del Norte volleyball program.