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The Artesia High girls volleyball team swept de Toledo High 25-13, 25-11, 25-14 last Thursday in a CIF-Southern Section Division 8 second round match. Senior outside hitter Djulianne Goze (front row, fifth from the left) had 14 kills and junior outside hitter Haley Robertson (back row, fourth from the left) had 16 kills as the Pioneers advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1996 and third time in school history. Photo by Loren Kopff.
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on x
Every now and then, you’ll come across a high school athletic program that hasn’t won a league title in a long time, a playoff game. or even advanced far in the postseason. You can add the Artesia High girls volleyball program to that list as it did something the program hasn’t done since 1996.
Behind the offensive power of senior outside hitter Djulianne Goze and junior outside hitter Haley Robertson, the Pioneers advanced to the CIF-Southern Section quarterfinals for only the second time in school history with a 25-13, 25-11, 25-14 win over de Toledo High last Thursday. The Pioneers, ranked second in Division 8, improved to 12-10 as they will visit Vistamar High on Wednesday.
“Lots of memories,” said Artesia first-year head coach Francisco Serrano as he reflected on the program that has seen its share of losing. “I graduated [from Artesia] in 1996 and I remember those games; it was very challenging. I’m very excited; we’re going to play on the road and get these girls to dream again that they can do it, that they can go farther. I’m very proud of them.”
“Honestly, this win…I can’t even describe it in words,” said Goze. “It’s like history to me because in all four years of my varsity career, we have never gone this far.”
Goze was one of 11 freshmen on the team when she stepped foot on the high school campus, and she is now one of nine seniors on a team of 13. Goze, Robertson, senior setter Isabel Cruz and senior middle blocker Kristina Palafox are the only players who were on Artesia’s last playoff team.
Artesia made its playoff debut in 1977 and went 7-10 postseason matches until 1996, then went 13 seasons of futility until getting back to the playoffs in 2010. In fact, Artesia had a combined record of 35-123 from 1999-2009. After that, the program has made three appearances in the playoffs including this season. The 12 wins are also the most the program has seen in at least 28 seasons. And, before this season, the program has won at least 10 matches twice. The 2023 team went 11-9 and the 2010 team finished 10-14.
The first kill of the match from Robertson put the hosts up 2-1 and they never trailed the remainder of the set, opening a 15-5 lead after she had her third ace. Goze and Robertson tormented the de Toledo defense for a combined 10 kills and five aces while Palafox added three aces and a kill in the first set.
The Pioneers, who never trailed by more than a point in the first two sets, which came at the beginning, turned a 6-4 lead into an 11-4 advantage in the second set thanks to three more aces from Robertson. After a serve into the net, a net violation gave Palafox the serve where Goze responded with three straight kills followed by an ace from Palafox as Artesia cruised to the second set victory.
The third set was tied only once at 2-2, but the Pioneers could not get away from the Jaguars in the first rotation, as a 12-7 lead quickly turned into a 13-10 advantage. But a kill from Goza and an ace from Cruz was the spark the red and black needed. Moments later, a serve into the net allowed senior opposite hitter Camilla Orozco to reel off half a dozen straight aces to make it 24-13.
“Camilla is one of our best servers, and we needed to incorporate her experience [when the season started] as a server,” said Serrano.
Robertson led the Pioneers with 16 kills and served seven aces while Goze added 14 kills and had three aces. Three other players combined for five kills and Orozco led everyone with eight aces.
“Amazing,” said Serrano of his two offensive stars. “Everyday, they just keep getting better and better. They’re up there, but of course, games are going to get tougher, and I don’t know how many more kills they’re going to [be getting].”
“Our team definitely has been through it together because our team has been the same team from last year,” said Goze. “But we’ve all had this fighting spirit; this whole team wants it. Everybody wants to win.”
At least for this season, in which the Pioneers will finish with a winning record, the school can put away the bad memories of finishing in fifth place or worse in the Suburban League and 605 League 20 times since 1998, went through five winless seasons during that same period and won less than six matches another 11 times.
“We’ve been trying so many things to get this in order, but I’m glad we finally found our connection together, especially with our setters,” said Goze. “The season has been going great so far; we’ve just been connecting with everyone.”
A win over Vistamar will keep the Pioneers on the road for Saturday’s semifinal match against either Loma Linda Academy or third-ranked Paramount High.
