RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- Murrieta Valley girls volleyball coach Ann Romero-Parks wanted to challenge her team with a difficult early-season schedule that included a trip to Hawaii for a tournament.
Those early tests continue to lead to postseason success, as the second-seeded Nighthawks advanced to the second CIF Southern Section final in program history with a 25-23, 25-12, 25-22 victory over No. 3 Etiwanda in a Division 2 semifinal match Saturday afternoon at Etiwanda High School.
Murrieta Valley (28-7) advances to play Palos Verdes in the final next Saturday at a site and time to be determined. Palos Verdes defeated the Nighthawks in a tournament in August. The season for Etiwanda (30-3) will continue when the CIF State playoffs begin Nov. 12.
"It's exciting. I don't take it for granted by any means," said Romero-Parks, who played at Murrieta Valley and coached the program to its other finals appearance, in 2019. "I know how hard it is to get there. I got pretty emotional after the game. This is a special group. These seniors started in the COVID year and had to play with masks on. There are girls on this court right now who had never played volleyball before (high school)... They are the most incredible group of humans. I could not be happier about this team."
Murrieta Valley played more consistent volleyball Saturday, but Etiwanda had opportunities to win the first and third sets.
The Eagles led 18-16 in the first set, but Murrieta Valley turned it around by scoring seven of the next eight points, including two kills by Cadence Axene (who had six kills in the match).
Etiwanda was never a threat in the second set as the Nighthawks took an 8-2 lead and the Eagles never got closer than four points the rest of the set.
The third set, Etiwanda rallied from an early deficit to take a 16-14 lead, on the strength of four straight aces by Lauren Furnald.
"I was close to using a (second) timeout," Romero-Parks said. "One more and I would have."
But Murrieta Valley rallied and took the lead for good on Melanie Hewlett's serve. An ace by Miley Thunstrom finished off the victory.
Thunstrom led Murrieta Valley with 18 kills, and Ryleigh Short added 11 more. Libero Sophia Castro had 12 digs, but Romero-Parks felt the steady hand of Hewlett as the setter (26 assists) deserved special praise.
"We've had a lot of games where we've won the first two sets and we let them come back and we go to five," Hewlett said. "We went into the third set (Saturday) and said, 'we need to finish it.'
"It (making the finals) feels kind of unreal. I never really expected my senior year to be in the CIF Finals."
Etiwanda was led by Nina Hemsley, who had 12 kills, while Brooke Hansen had 25 assists and 10 digs, Furnald had five aces, and Alina Parrales had 13 digs. But the Eagles were mistake-prone, making several errors and losing several points for being out of rotation.
"Something we've talked about throughout the season is when we're playing against teams that are in their rhythm, really establishing the same player and forcing them to get out of that rhythm and for them to start committing errors," Etiwanda coach Savannah Flores said. "It was a little more individualized tonight (from Etiwanda), as opposed to the team camaraderie that we've been playing with."