The Aliso Niguel High School’s girls varsity volleyball team has won CIF! They will be advancing towards state competitions later this week. 

  But before they advance to state, here’s a recap of their 2021 CIF journey so far. 

  Before even the first CIF game, the Aliso Niguel girls volleyball team faced struggles, being demoted to division 2 as a result of a loss in a coin toss with San Clemente High School after tying against them. San Clemente was able to move forth in division 1, while Aliso Niguel was moved to division 2. 

  The first CIF game occurred on Thursday, Oct. 21 at home against Long Beach Poly. Aliso Niguel was expected to easily win this match, having played them earlier in the season. But instead, they got off to a rough start, losing two sets to Long Beach, almost resulting in their loss. And in CIF, one loss and you’re out.

  But in the end our team played to win and ended up winning the next three sets against Long Beach, resulting in a hard won victory. 

  The next game was played against Laguna Beach on Wednesday, Oct. 27 in our home gym. This game started in a similar way to that of their previous game against Long Beach Poly. They started off less strong, losing the first two sets again. But as in the last game, the Aliso Niguel girls volleyball team came back from that competing neck and neck with Laguna Beach in order to win every single point. 

  The game was called by players as the, “best game of the season” in terms of excitement, as it was a constant back and forth between the two teams. In the end, Aliso Niguel ended up victorious against Laguna Beach in an amazing game, which advanced them to the semifinals. 

  In order to advance to CIF finals, the Aliso Niguel volleyball team had to defeat La Salle High School on Saturday, Oct. 30 at La Salle. And defeat they did. In a similar pattern to the past CIF games, Aliso Niguel was neck and neck against La Salle in a constant back and forth. And in the end, Aliso Niguel once again defeated their opposition, resulting in a wolverine victory.

  So far, the Aliso Niguel girls volleyball team has managed to earn a winning streak that continued through their last CIF game against Huntington Beach. On Saturday, Nov. 6, they won their first CIF title since 2014. The team started out victorious in their first two sets of play with scores of 27-25 and 26-24, but gave up their streak to Huntington Beach, losing the third set 20-25. It was another close and back and forth game for Aliso Niguel, but they managed to win the last set they needed 25-21 to finally seal their victory. 

  The girls varsity volleyball team has been working tirelessly throughout these past few weeks to secure their CIF championship, and have the opportunity to earn many more wins through state.