VENTURA – When the last rankings prior to the playoff seedings came out on November 7th, the Grossmont College Griffin Women's volleyball team was ranked fourth in the State and the top team in the Southern Region.
Last week, the CCCAA playoff brackets were released and to many, the surprise of the brackets was that Grossmont was the nine seed. A team that they beat twice, San Diego Mesa, was the fourth seed, they lost in the Second round. Irvine Valley, a team that the Griffins swept in September was the two seed. They lost to Santa Barbara in five sets in the SoCal Regional Finals. Moorpark, who beat the Griffins in three sets in September, swept the Rio Hondo in the Regional Finals.
The Griffins were ranked ahead of Ventura, but the Pirates got the top seed. Grossmont defeated the Pirates on Saturday, Nov. 26 in four sets in the SoCal Regional final round at Ventura's Athletic Events Center. With the win, the Griffins are heading back to Fresno to try and get another State Championship.
Grossmont dropped the first set 22-25 but bounced back to take the second set 25-18 and the third set 25-12. In the deciding set it came down to the end of the set. The Green and Gold led for the majority of the set and were up 23-18. Ventura battled back to close it to 23-21. Grossmont shut the door with two points and closed the door on Ventura's season.
"The team followed a game plan and played with a next ball mentality, stayed loose and aggressive all night," head coach Brooke Callahan said after the match. "Dumo defensively and Aly offensively were game changers for us tonight."
The Griffins will face Feather River, the North's two seed (and the State's top team most of the season) in the Elite Eight on Friday night at Fresno City College in Fresno. The Championship match is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 4 at 2:00 p.m.
The Elite Eight backets
N1 San Joaquin Delta v S4 College of the Canyons
N2 Feather River v S3 GROSSMONT
N3 American River v S2 Orange Coast
N4 San Mateo v S1 Moorpark
The ticket prices as mandated by the CCCAA are: $30 for an All-Session pass, $12 general admission for adults (Ages 12-60), $8 for Seniors (60+), Youth (12 and under) and Students (with proper ID).