Prep sports roundup: Clovis West goes 5 sets for SoCal win

Taylor Ferdinandsen served four late points in a row — underhanded, no less — and Taylor Oren closed a scramble play and the match with a kill as the fourth-seeded Clovis West High girls volleyball team defeated No. 5 La Salle-Pasadena 3-2 in the first round of the Southern California Regionals in Division I on Tuesday night in the Golden Eagles gym.

Clovis West (28-12), coming off a 3-2 road win over Liberty-Bakersfield for the Central Section D-I title last week on a night the Eagles trailed 2-0, pulled out yet another against the state’s eighth-ranked La Salle.

It was 8-8 in the fifth set when Clovis West won long rallies in a match loaded with them and charged to the wire to earn a semifinal match Saturday at the nation’s No. 4 Marymount-Los Angeles (34-5), the SoCal D-I division’s No. 1 seed, which swept Poway.

“We’re used to playing on the road and playing great teams on the road,” said coach Rhonda DeRuiter of the Eagles, who are ranked eighth in the state. Playing one on the road won’t be an issue; we’re usually playing four or five of them in two days.”

Ferdinandsen has developed effective short and deep serves underhanded since injuring a thumb in October. The senior also had 25 digs Tuesday in a match of exceptional defense by both teams.

Hailey Smith, Oren and Lisa Armendariz balanced Clovis West’s offensive attack in the front row.

Other matches

Division II: Fifth-seeded Los Osos-Rancho Cucamonga eliminated No. 4 seed El Diamante, 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-10, in Visalia.

El Diamante (27-4) won its first Central Section championship last week.

Division IV: Third-seeded Woodlake advanced to the regional semifinals with a sweep of visiting Laguna Blanca-Santa Barbara.

The Tigers (26-4) won 25-19, 25-21, 25-15 and next play Saturday at No. 2 seed Saddleback Valley Christian-San Juan Capistrano, which won its opener 25-7, 25-17, 25-18 over Elizabeth Learning Center-Cudahy.

Division V: No. 7 seed St. Monica Academy-Pasadena bounced Central Section champion Minarets in four sets at O’Neals.

The Mustangs (21-11), who last week won the first section championship in the school’s five-year history, lost Tuesday night 25-15, 26-24, 26-28, 25-22.