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Valley Christian High senior outside hitter Tessa Dobmeier goes up for a scoring attack against Whittier Christian High’s Mia Camacho in last Thursday’s Olympic League match. Dobmeier led all players with 16 kills as the Defenders came away with a sweep. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.
By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on X
The Valley Christian High girls volleyball team is streaking at the right time in ways that made the program prominent nearly 30 years ago. Since winning all 12 Olympic League matches of the 1998 season that saw the program go 33-0 and become USA Today National Champions, V.C. has won three league titles but still made the CIF-Southern Section playoffs every season since 2009.
But following a 25-14, 25-19, 25-10 win over visiting Whittier Christian High last Thursday evening, the Defenders ended the first round of league action at 16-5 overall and have won 14 straight league matches, the program’s longest streak since 1998. The program’s last league loss was to Village Christian High on Oct. 3, 2024. It was also V.C.’s 10th straight win over the Heralds, 12th out of the last 13 meetings and 16th out of the last 19.
Last season, the Defenders, with half a dozen seniors, finished 24-3, falling to Marina High in the first round of the Division 2 playoffs. This season, head coach Stacy Brannon has 10 seniors on a team of 13, and the stakes are higher to advance farther in the postseason.
“I feel like the two seasons are quite similar,” said Brannon. “The people on the court are very similar; we’ve added [senior middle blocker] Sydney [Ostermann], who has been a good addition to fill Jordan [Weston] and Aubrey’s [Ericks] spot. So, I think she has stepped in and has been doing a great job for us. And then moving [senior] Annika [Visser] to libero is new too, and adding [freshman outside hitter] Scarlett [McGuyre] to the roster is a bonus too.”
The Defenders raced to an 8-0 lead to begin the match as senior outside hitter Tessa Dobmeier pounded down three straight kills, followed by two kills from Ostermann and a trio of aces from senior setter Lucy Taylor. Dobmeier, who surpassed 1,000 kills for her high school career earlier in the season, totaled seven in the match while McGuyre had three. V.C. produced 14 kills and had five kills in the first set.
“The funny thing was that’s not our normal starting [spots] because I wanted to change it up so that in [the CIF playoffs] if I saw a better matchup with whoever, I wanted to have Tessa match up with someone else, or something,” said Brannon. “I was like, ‘oh, this worked out pretty well’. That’s why I rotated four spots to have Lucy serve. That put Scarlett and Tessa in the front row together and Lucy has a really good serve.”
Whittier Christian would make things interesting in the second set as there were five ties and four lead changes just in the first rotation alone, in which the Defenders held a slim 12-11 advantage. But senior middle blocker Brooklyn Warner’s third kill of the set was the beginning of 7-0 run for the hosts in which she contributed with a pair of aces.
Again, it was the beginning of the second rotation that sealed the match in the third set as a kill from junior outside hitter Josie Huisman increased V.C.’s lead to 15-7 before senior outside hitter Jenna Van Kampen served nine straight points, including her only five aces of the match plus two more kills from Dobmeier.
One surprise this season has been the play of McGuyre, the lone freshman on the team and a niece of Brannon, and one of just three varsity newcomers. She had eight kills in the match, half of Dobmeier’s total, making those two a lethal one-two punch for the Defenders as they have sights on repeating as league champions.
“I’ve seen her grow up playing volleyball and I’ve watched her during club [volleyball],” said Brannon. “And so she’s doing a really good job for our team stepping in. Her and Tessa play for the same club, so that’s kind of fun that they knew each other. They’re not on the same [club] team because they’re three years apart.
“I personally have her, Brooklyn and Tessa all apart from each other [on the court], so we’ve got a really good hitter at the net no matter what,” she added. “Half the time it’s two of them and half the time it’s the other one.”
Even though they play different positions, Brannon went on to say that McGuyre has the potential to be just as good as Dobmeier for the next three seasons and will be one of only three returning players next season. Brannon continued by saying that McGuyre has ‘lots of potential to be a really good setter [and] opposite hitter’.
Valley Christian High senior outside hitter Tessa Dobmeier is on the defensive attack as she denies Whittier Christian High’s Emma Ruiz of a potential scoring chance. V.C. swept the Heralds last Thursday to end the first round of Olympic League play undefeated in four matches. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.
“It’s just a unique combo,” said Brannon. “A lot of times, setters set all the way around or they just set back row. Having her as a threat in the front row will be great. I’m glad we have her in the system; we’re graduating 10 people. So I’m just stoked to have her and [junior setter] Taylor [Lyons] and Josie all coming back next year so that we’re not completely rebuilding next year.”
Van Kampen and Warner each had five kills while Huismann and senior middle blocker Whitney McGuyre each added four kills as the Defenders collected 44 kills from seven players and 19 aces from six players. Dobmeier and Ostermann each added a block to their offensive production.
The Defenders will host Maranatha High on Thursday before participating in the Redondo Varsity Power Classic on Friday and Saturday. After that, V.C. will have three regular season matches remaining, beginning with a road trip to Village Christian on Tuesday before the home finale on Thursday against Heritage Christian High.
“We want to finish off league, obviously, 8-0,” said Brannon. “The Redondo Tournament will challenge us against some really good teams. We’ll see where we go for CIF; what division they’ll end up putting us in. But that’s the reason for the Redondo Tournament at the end of the season.”
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