Temple City tops Rancho Christian for Division 5 volleyball title – Press Enterprise

TEMPLE CITY – The Temple City High girls volleyball team had a bumpy road last season, winning only three games. The expectations were just to improve and smooth everything out, especially with star player and Stanford-commit Taylor Yu returning from injury this year. But the Rams exceeded all expectations set by their coach and themselves by capturing the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 championship with a three-set sweep (25-20, 25-21, 30-28) over Rancho Christian on Friday night.

The win gives Temple City (18-4) its second girls volleyball CIF championship in school history and first since 2002.

Yu, who had a match-high of 35 kills, was all smiles as she tried to express how she felt after leading her team to a championship.

“It’s still not processing right now,” Yu said immediately after the match. “I’m going to go to sleep tonight and it’s still not going to process for another week or something. I’m so happy right now.”

Rams coach and Yu’s father, Nathan Yu, said it was a grind for the team’s seniors after finishing 3-11 last season. Taylor Yu suffered a torn meniscus before the season even started and sat out her entire junior year.

“There’s a certain degree of relief that’s slowly starting to creep in,” Nathan Yu said. “All of that pain and turmoil from last year with (Taylor Yu’s) injury and also struggling to win games from time to time. It was probably a really good opportunity for those girls to get down on themselves and wonder if it was all worth it. But they kept pressing and kept getting better. They kept working—summer and spring workouts. And to have it all culminate in this is a huge relief.”

The Rams carried a massive amount of momentum heading into the championship match against Rancho Christian (26-8). They lost only one set in their first four playoff matches, defeating Woodbridge 3-0, Valencia 3-1, Ventura 3-0 and Corona Centennial 3-0, respectively.

As the momentum started to build, the team started to believe more and more it could win a championship, according to Nathan Yu.

“The expectations to be here weren’t really all there until maybe after the Ventura match (in the quarterfinals),” Yu said. “I knew we could kind of make a deepish run like into the (quarterfinals). But once we finished that one, I knew we had a pretty good shot.”

Having a player like Taylor Yu made all the difference.  Many of her kills were set up by Jocelyn Hou. The two demonstrated a chemistry that professionals develop over years playing together. However, this was their first season together on the court at the same time.

“I think it’s just about being open and saying what I need and what she needs” Hou said of her on-court connection with Yu. “That way we can get the synergy going on.”

“This was the year we kind of came together and ran our offense,” Taylor Yu said.

Temple City took a 2-0 set lead and led 20-17 in the third set with a chance to close out the match. But the Eagles came soaring back. They took a 24-21 lead, needing only one point to force a fourth set. However, the Rams didn’t concede.

Taylor Yu spiked a kill toward the back of the court to close the deficit to 24-22. She made it 24-23 when she served an ace. The Rams tied it at 24 and then took a 25-24 lead when Yu’s kill hit the net and then slowly bounced over and hit the court.

Yu had another kill to give Temple City a 26-25 lead but Rancho Christian kept fighting back and tied it at 28 when Savannah Thomas spiked a kill.

The Rams regained the lead, 29-28, when Charlie McLaughlin’s serve hit the net. That set up a fitting end to the match for Temple City. Hou set up an assist for Yu who came running toward the net on the left side and slammed the ball for a kill that hit the back of the court.

Rancho Christian coach Luci Villafana praised Yu.

“(Yu) obviously carries her team a lot but I love her attitude toward her teammates,” Villafana said. “She was telling her teammates, ‘Hey, you got that next pass.’ She’s very much a leader and I love that from her.”

Villafana had praise for her own team, too, for making it to the program’s first girls volleyball championship match.

“I’m so proud of them,” she said of her players. “Obviously, the loss was unfortunate but I’m just so happy they even made it and it’s history for our school. Tough loss but at the same time it’s a victory for us.”