Santa Margarita Rallies to Beat Westlake

WESTLAKE VILLAGE — One year later, Westlake High was still on the wrong end of a five-game loss to Santa Margarita.

For the second time in a year, Santa Margarita rallied for a victory against Westlake, this time a 6-15, 15-13, 5-15, 15-3, 16-14 thriller in the Southern California Division II finals Tuesday night at Westlake.

The Eagles play Mountain View St. Francis in the state final at 5 p.m. Saturday at Cypress College.

Santa Margarita, which led the fifth game, 10-1, found itself trailing, 14-11, after a furious rally by Westlake.

But the Eagles fought off three match points and, with Suzanne Sarkees serving, scored five consecutive points to end the match.

“It was a barnburner to the very end,” Westlake Coach Chris Rundle said.

An intense rivalry has developed between the teams.

Westlake (35-4) lost a stunner to the Eagles in last year’s Southern Section II-A championship, losing a 2-0 lead in games and falling in five.

“In this match-up, who knows what’s going to happen,” Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp said. “Fortunately for us, we ended up on top, but it could have gone either way.”

Westlake, which looked sharp in grabbing the first game, took a 6-0 lead in the second before Chambers showed why she is headed to Stanford.

She had only one kill in the first game, but delivered six kills and an ace in the middle stages of the second as Santa Margarita took a 12-9 lead.

In the third game, the Warriors served four aces--three by Megan Mullen--as Santa Margarita’s passing broke down. The Warriors did not win another game.