Congrats to vballrecruiter.com’s 2022 High School National Champions the Cathedral Catholic Dons! Cathedral Catholic (42-0) completed a nearly-perfect season in which it lost just one set by sweeping undefeated St. Francis/Mountain View, 25-21, 25-16, 25-23, in Saturday’s California’s Open Division state championship match at Santiago Canyon College in Orange. Let’s take a look at what made for Cathedral Catholic’s first national championship!

THE BACKGROUND

Cathedral Catholic saw the blueprint first hand in 2021. The Dons walked off the court after suffering a four-set loss to Elia Rubin-led Marymount in the state semifinals. The Sailors closed out its undefeated season and national championship in the next outing by sweeping Archbishop Mitty in the final.

Given that for 2022 Cathedral Catholic would be returning plenty of talent, including players like Julia Blyashov (Stanford), Milan Bayless (Colgate), Ryleigh Patterson (Harvard), and Noemie Glover (Oregon), and had players like setter Amanda Saeger (DePaul), middle Jenna Hanes (Michigan) and libero Maya Evens ready to step into starting roles, the Dons would no doubt be the No. 1 team in the nation to begin this fall as they sought their own storybook season.

“Definitely after the loss last year we came back very motivated,” Blyashov said. “We wanted to win it very badly. Last year we thought we were going to win and it was such a heartbreaking loss it motivated us for this season. We were focused on every game and didn’t want to get comfortable so we continued doing that. We had so much fun along the way. It was so awesome to be able to do it.”

THE SPRAINED ANKLE

Blyashov was not yet committed to Stanford when Cathedral lost to Marymount last fall. Once she announced her future college the storyline was obvious. We could be looking at a Stanford-bound stud once again leading her team to an undefeated high school national championship. What was less obvious is a sprained ankle sidelining Blyashov for the state playoffs and suddenly putting Cathedral’s immaculate season in jeopardy.

Cathedral Catholic needed four points to finish off a sweep of Torrey Pines in the CIF San Diego Section final on Nov. 4 when suddenly Blyashov went down. Coach Juliana Conn said no one thought much of it right away, thinking she would be okay. However, the next day Blyashov’s ankle was swollen enough she would be out of the upcoming state tournament.

It was uh-oh time, as the road to the national championship took possibly a devastating twist.

“Obviously, it wasn’t the best timing for an injury but injuries happen. They are part of sports,” Blyashov said. “I looked to my team and they were so supportive. I’m so happy for everyone. We have the best team. It was so easy to be happy and celebrate. It was awesome. Obviously, it would have been better not to be injured but this team is so special I wouldn’t take this night back at all.”

THE DEPTH

Here is what Conn said after Cathedral Catholic captured the Durango Fall Classic title in September without using a set lineup as she rotated players from set to set and match to match: “It’s a big group and sometimes with that many good players it can be hard to accept smaller roles. But this group is embracing it and girls are waiting for their chance while still supporting whoever is on the court. The feedback this weekend from other coaches was great. They were telling us how engaged our bench is.”

Conn certainly had options. It was typical to see Blyashov at outside, Evens at libero, Hanes anchoring one of the middle positions and Saeger setting, though Conn could bring senior Tehya Maeva in at any point to run the offense. We could see Patterson in the middle or on the right. It could be senior Mia Compass in the middle or senior Kapiolani Coleman on the right. Juniors Niki Egan, Ayva Moi and Dakota Conway all had roles as defensive specialists. Seniors Milan Bayless and Cate Schnell had their roles, with Bayless often hitting front row on the left and Schnell playing across the back. Both had to take on more with Blyashov out, as Bayless took on the OH1 position and Schnell started hitting across the front row too.

Through it all, there was no going wrong.

“It’s been the talk of the season,” Conn said after Saturday night’s victory. “Everyone keeps asking how I’m keeping everyone happy. I think everyone knew there was a role to be filled and everyone was accepting of that. Whenever someone went down or someone had a bad game, someone would step in their position and they would be happy for them.

“At the beginning of the season we talked about how we all know they start for their clubs and could be a six-rotation player on any team, but we are all here together and we need to be able to handle that or it could go really south. From Day 1, we were deep and we would fight it out in practice and the best one was going to be playing. It doesn’t mean it was bad for them (if they aren’t playing), they are still helping on the bench cheering and being positive and when they get their chance they went in and did a good job.

“When Julia went down everyone was super worried but I knew we would get the next person and they would be ready to play and that was definitely the highlight of the season.”

THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

Without Blyashov there was no doubt Cathedral Catholic’s depth would be tested in the state playoffs. First was Lakewood, then a rematch with Torrey Pines before facing Mira Costa in the semifinals. The Dons swept both Lakewood and Torrey Pines, but Mira Costa was on a different level and represented the toughest challenge yet.

Mira Costa captured the Ann Kang Invitational and finished runner-up at the Nike TOC Southwest in October. Mira Costa finished 2-2 against Sierra Canyon, losing to the Trailblazers in the CIF Southern Section final but beating them in the state quarterfinals.

Mira Costa provided the test no other team could, as it was the lone time the Dons lost a set. After winning the opening frame, the Dons found themselves locked at 1-1 after Mira Costa answered back in resounding fashion in the second. It was officially gut-check time. Would doubt creep in? Would there be any fraying? Would they be rattled?

No, no and no. Cathedral hit back hard in Games 3 and 4 and advanced to their seventh state final in program history.

“There was this big hype of being undefeated and the streak and I kept telling the girls it’s going to happen,” Conn said. “Someone is going to catch 25 first and when it happens you cannot worry about it. You can’t let it get mental and worry so much about it.

“Playing Mira Costa, you could see us kind of give up on that game. We were down seven or points and we were pretty much not responding. That never happened. They’ve come firing back seven points before like nothing. When they came to the huddle afterward I told them they played better than us. That’s what it means losing a game are they going to let it be the match? They said no, we got it.

“There was no desperation now that the streak was over. It was definitely we need to play better. Let’s reset. We started up 7-1. It was right back to business.”

THE SPARK

Waiting for Cathedral Catholic in the state finals was St. Francis, which was looking for a fairytale ending to its season. What would be more memorable than upsetting Cathedral in the final and finishing its season undefeated and possibly earning the national championship themselves?

It was a high-stakes affair and St. Francis came out hot holding a slim lead nearing the midpoint of the first set. Cathedral needed a spark, something or someone to provide a punch. Lost in the depth of Cathedral’s talent was just how much of a force Glover can be when put in that situation.

Conn’s been on the other end of it, when Glover recorded 17 kills as Coast 17-1 kept Wave 17 Juliana from advancing to the 17 Open quarterfinals this past summer in Indianapolis. Saturday night, Conn was on the right side of the Glover barrage.

Glover helped turn around the first set, delivering six kills on nine swings without an error. She finished with 13 kills and hit .550 on 20 attempts.

“I think when Julia went down Noemie knew there was a role to fill,” Conn said. “Once Julia was out I think naturally we turned to her and she knew she was going to get fed a lot of balls. She took the responsibility and just did it. Amanda was comfortable knowing she could go there if we are in trouble.”

THE OTHER POINT OF ATTACK

With Glover’s high-flying, thunderous kills ricocheting off the floor as she put on a show, another point of attack doomed St. Francis just as much if not more. Hanes finished with a team-high 14 kills on a team-high 27 swing while hitting .370. Patterson added four kills on 13 swings as the middles teamed for 40 attacks.

“Jenna, it’s her first year on varsity,” Conn said. “She transferred in last year and couldn’t even play. For her to have 27 attempts in the state final match is kind of crazy. It shows how good of a passing team we are to run our middles 40 times. The setter is doing a good job to get the middles so many attempts and it was so awesome seeing Jenna stepping up.”

Added together, the two middles and Glover took 60 of the team’s 110 attempts while Bayless and Schnell combined for 36 swings on the outside.

“We are a fantastic blocking team and they run a different style of offense and have different kind of hitters that we have not had the opportunity to play against this year,” St. Francis coach Lake Merchen said.

THE END

A season like Cathedral Catholic’s or the one like Marymount had a year ago should be fully appreciated for the difficulty it takes to maintain a level of focus and play while having such a giant target on their backs.

Indiana 4A state champ Hamilton Southeastern – which is No. 3 in the final Top 50 – lost its first match of the season to McCutcheon. While HSE avenged the loss by beating McCutcheon in the postseason and won state, it didn’t make for an undefeated season.

Michigan’s Division 1 state champ Marian – ranked No. 5 in the final Top 50 – can relate. Marian’s only loss came to Northville during in-season tournament play. Marian avenged the defeat by beating Northville in the state final, but it doesn’t make for an undefeated season.

The same goes for Washburn Rural, which captured the Kansas 6A state title and is No. 6 in the final rankings. Washburn Rural fell to St. James Academy in its second match of the season and that was all it took. Washburn Rural didn’t lose again and won state but it did not make for an undefeated season.

Now revisit the fact that Cathedral Catholic lost only one set all season and it’s almost incomprehensible how dominating the Dons were in their accomplishments. There was the state title and winning the Durango Fall Classic, where Cathedral defeated eventual Hawaii Division 1 state champ ‘Iolani and eventual California Division 1 state champ Branson. Cathedral also was part of the Geico Invitational, where it beat eventual Nebraska Class A state champ Papillion-LaVista South.

“I told them never take a team for granted,” Conn said. “If you can go out there and put a team down 25-5 you do it because it only takes one bad day, one bad game for a team with no chance of beating you to sneak a win.”