By Ben Goldstein

The girls’ varsity volleyball team defeated Flintridge Sacred Heart on Saturday, winning the Southern Section Division I-A championship. After the match, which the Wolverines won in four games, players flocked together and joyfully jumped up and down on the court, as the Fanatics broke out a rendition of Queen’s “We are the Champions.”

The match marks the team’s third win over Flintridge Sacred Heart this season and the team’s first title since 2001.

“[Winning a CIF title] feels amazing… It was going to be hard to beat the same team three times in a row, but we pulled it off. Everybody put their heads into it and all our hard work and practice during league paid off,” outside hitter Emily Waterhouse ’09 said. Waterhouse led the squad with 19 kills, followed by outside hitter Meg Norton’s ’10 18 kills and middle blocker Cathryn Quinn’s ’08 13 kills. Katherine Sebastian ’08 finished with 54 assists.

The first game of the match was a fierce contest, as both teams traded points until the end. The Wolverines squandered a 24-22 lead and ended up losing the game 24-26. But the team came out firing in the second game, scoring 14 straight points, on their way to a 25-7 win. With momentum on their side, the Wolverines won the next two games, each with a score of 25-21.

“We really knew the other team and we put a lot of work into figuring out their tendencies. We watched a lot of video, looked at their stats and we practiced keeping their style of play in mind,” Waterhouse said.

Riding on a 16 game winning streak, the Wolverines enter the first round of the CIF state playoffs tomorrow at 7 p.m against La Jolla in Taper Gym.

Going into Saturday’s CIF championship match against Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy last Saturday at Cypress College, the girls’ volleyball team knew they were facing a familiar foe. They had already beaten Flintridge twice in the regular season, and the third match was no different as the Wolverines beat the Tologs 24-26, 25-7, 25-21, 25-21 to earn their first CIF championship since 2001.

The win also ended an almost 3-year CIF championship drought for the school in any sport that dated back to June of 2005 when the boys’ tennis team earned the title. The girls hope to repeat the result that occurred when they won the CIF championship in 2001: a state title.

The Wolverines’ road to San Jose and a third state championship in girls’ volleyball will begin this Tuesday night against La Jolla at 7 p.m. in Taper Gym.