Sophomore Sianna Houghton serves in the first set of Menlo’s victory Saturday. Staff photo: Eliza Crowder.

By Jack Gold

The Menlo Knights Volleyball team swept Monte Vista Christian this past Saturday afternoon 25-9, 25-14, 28-26 to advance to play Point Loma in the Division IV State Championship on Dec. 3.

Menlo came out of the gates strong, only giving up nine points in the first set. Their momentum was powered by senior middleback Mia Vandermeer who contributed three kills in the set for the Knights.

The Monte Vista Mustangs couldn’t seem to find an answer to Menlo’s explosive offense and solid defense in the second set either. A combination of Vandermeer’s one of 12 blocks followed by an ace by junior defensive specialist Grace Enright gave the Knights a lead that they carried through the rest of the set.

“On Friday, we prepared a lot. We watched some video of Monte Vista from a previous match and saw that they ran an unusual offense from what we’ve seen earlier in the season, so we adjusted to that in Friday’s practice. I think that really helped us go into the game with a good grasp on their strategies and gave us some confidence on the court,” said senior libero Jessica Houghton.

The Knights defense prevailed throughout the entire game, in part thanks to Jessica and Sianna Houghton who picked up 18 and 12 digs respectively. Setters junior Kristin Sellers and sophomore Selina Xu also combined for 35 assists while sophomore Grace King contributed eight.

Monte Vista showed some life in the third set, as they forced a much closer score than the previous two. However, great all-around play including a game-winning kill by junior opposite Ashley Dreyer gave Menlo their first NorCal victory since 2013.

“[Winning NorCals] has been a goal of ours since the beginning of the season, and to earn our year on the ‘NorCal Champs’ banner in the gym is surreal,” Vandermeer said.