Third-seeded Dana Hills sweeps Woodbridge in opening round of CIF Divison 2 volleyball playoffs

Drea Fresenius of Dana Hills (No. 7 in blue) tries to make a play at the net as Jennifer Leitman of Woodbridge defends Thursday night. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, for OC Sports Zone).

The Dana Hills girls volleyball team swept Woodbridge, 25-19, 25-15, 25-23 in the first round of the CIF Division 2 playoffs Thursday night at Woodbridge. The Dolphins were able to hand the Warriors just their second loss at home to advance to play Huntington Beach Saturday.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

Woodbridge girls volleyball players get ready for Thursday's playoff match.

Stila Fresenius of Dana Hills goes up to try and block a shot by Woodbridge's Jennifer Leitman.

Stila Fresenius of Dana Hills tries to make a point Thursday.

Woodbridge's Sofia Leyerle (No. 17) and Madison Lyon try to block a shot by Makenna Schooler of Dana Hills.

Woodbridge coach Alam Ho (left) and Dana Hills coach Gus Culver talk before the match.

Woodbridge's Madelaine Leitman makes a play at the net.

Jennifer Leitman of Woodbridge makes a play in Thursday's match.

Woodbridge students cheer on their team Thursday night.

Dana Hills players celebrate a point Thursday night.

Abby Andrews of Dana Hills makes a play in Thursday's match.

Woodbridge coach Alan Ho meets with his players during a timeout.

No. 3 seeded Dana Hills (26-6, 4-4) didn’t lose a game in the match and lost the lead only once. To begin the match the Dolphins took a dominating nine point lead then held off the Warriors as they came within striking distance.

“We did a better job as the game went on taking care of the ball and started making less errors,” Dana Hills Coach Gus Culver said. “The biggest thing for this group is getting a win and moving on to the second round.”

The third set was the closest of all three and was the only one in which both teams had a lead, but it belonged to Dana Hill’s Maura Hayes. She had a kill to knot the battling teams up at six and then followed up with four more kills to help her team to a 25-23 win. All five of her kills came in the third game.

Dana Hills’ Stila Fresenius led the match with 11 kills and had 10 digs while Drea Fresenius led the team in aces with three.

The Warriors (22-12, 8-3) showed heart and fight as they fell to the No. 3 ranked team in the division. Facing match point, they scored six unanswered to come within one, but a miscommunication ended the game and season for Woodbridge. Sofia Leyerle had two digs while facing match point.

Jennifer Leitman led the team with 10 kills and Izzy Budetti had seven digs.

“We’ve played from behind a lot so we have enough experience to know how to deal with it,” Woodbridge Coach Alan Ho said. “They always say it’s tiring to come from behind all the time. It’s such stress. When you finally get into position you cant take the lead from them because its mentally exhausting.”

-Kyle Smith, For OC Sports Zone