Vista Murrieta girls volleyball team falls to Edison in Division 2 playoffs – Press Enterprise

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Sometimes, the difference between winning and losing is about which side better manages its problems. And there was little doubt which team that was Saturday.

Vista Murrieta’s bid to repeat as CIF Southern Section Division 2 champion ended in a sea of errors and violations in its second-round match with Edison. Playing uphill all night, the Broncos fell, 25-23, 21-25, 23-25, 25-27.

Edison (17-12), a semifinalist last season, will travel to Orange Lutheran for a quarterfinal matchup Wednesday.

Errors of all kinds – serving, passing and hitting – popped up at key times for Vista Murrieta (19-12), along with an unusual number of violations, including 10 net violations. Given that Edison was not called for any net violations, the calls did not go unchallenged.

“You really don’t want to be talking about calls,” Vista Murrieta coach Ed Taitano said. “You try to stay focused and fight through it.

“You kind of factor in about four points on calls and things like that. It seemed like we had triple that.”

The violations weren’t the only free points Edison picked up. The Broncos had an erratic night hitting and serving, matching runs of brilliance with strings of errors.

If errors were at the top of Vista Murrieta’s list of problems, Edison issue was at the net, where the Chargers struggled all night to deal with the Broncos’ superior blocking game. The Broncos, led by Lilliana Montes, Charlotte Underwood and Madison Pulsipher, finished with 15 points off blocks, compared to five for Edison.

“They (Vista Murrieta) are such a good blocking team,” said Edison’s standout senior outside hitter Molly McCluskey. “We had to hit high and get over those high hands.”

McCluskey also complemented her powerful swings with well-timed dinks. It added up to a dominant night for the leader of Edison’s senior-heavy squad, as she finished with 21 kills and three aces.

“She was outstanding,” Taitano said. “I think we held her to about 50 percent (hitting percentage), which is about what we were hoping for.”

Vista Murrieta led by as many as three points only twice all night, both in the fourth set. One of those, however, came at 24-21, giving the Broncos three chances to force a fifth set.

McCluskey stopped a five-point run with a kill, and Adia McCown’s quick sinking serve produced three consecutive aces, including one that scraped the net. A block by Underwood kept the Broncos alive, but one play later, a decisive kill by Summer Witherby ended Vista Murrieta’s reign.

“They were the better team tonight,” Taitano said. “Hats off to them. Division 2 is no joke.”