Bells too much for Serra

"I definitely got that yellow card on purpose to try to get the team pumped up," Koehler said.

But emotion could only carry Serra so far Thursday at Santa Clara High School. Bellarmine defeated the Padres for the fourth time this season, 25-18, 25-19, 25-21, and in the process captured its sixth CCS title in the nine years the tournament's been contested. It was a dominant performance from the section's dominant team, a powerful display of volleyball excellence. Simply put, the No. 5 seed Bells (33-5) were physically better than No. 6 Serra (24-8) in every facet of the game. The Padres didn't play bad; Bellarmine was just that good. Still, the sinking realization of getting beat by a better team did little to ease their pain.

"It's like losing the World Series or the Super Bowl," Serra coach Brian Belding said. "It's frustrating to end your season on a loss, but you know from experience that when you look back on this years from now, you're going to realize it was an impressive season."

On Wednesday, Belding had talked about this match being the perfect script to make history. The Padres would have a chance to knock out their nemesis in the most important match of the season. But there are few Hollywood endings in real life, and that was certainly the case against the Bells, whose potent service game often put Serra on the defensive from the get-go. As a result, the Padres botched a number of passes, which led to poor sets and a number of hitting errors. Serra had its moments, but it just didn't have enough of them. Bellarmine pulled away late in the first two games, and overtook the Padres in Game 3.

Dan Wilson's tip gave Serra its largest lead of the match at 13-9, but the Bells tied things at 14 on a Jarod Keller kill. The teams traded the next eight points before Bellarmine closed things out with a 7-3 run. The combination of setter Kelly and 6-foot-6 middle Brandon Williams - the two will be playing at Stanford next year - overwhelmed the Padres at times. Not only did Serra have no answers for the Bells' dynamic duo, it didn't contain Bellarmine's other hitters either. The Bells' balanced attack included five hitters with six kills or more. Williams had 10 kills and Colin Kerr added nine. Hunter Current, a 6-foot-7 middle, led Bellarmine's 10-block brigade with five.

Serra junior Chase Transeth came up with a number of solid digs, while Robbie Sacher had 10 kills, Wilson finished with nine kills and four blocks and Jake Kelly had five kills, all of which came in Game 3. However, the Padres never got into a rhythm offensively, with setter Pat McKenna and his big hitters of Sacher and Wilson at times misfiring badly and looking out of sync.

"Our passing was erratic and that was frustrating," Belding said. "It was just excellent serving by Bellarmine. They don't overpower you; they're just consistent and persistent. They don't shut down mentally and we didn't either. I'm proud of the guys. They kept on coming and played tough all the way through. When Dan was serving at the end, I thought we were going to win that game. In the past I'd say it was over. This was the first time we've been in the (title) game; the next time we'll win it."

Midway through the season, Belding said this team had a chance to be the best in school history. In advancing to the championship match, Serra did exactly that, and made some history along the way.

"We didn't make the adjustments today on our passes and it made it tough for Pat to set the ball," Koehler said. "The loss is tough to take, but we're going to look at this as a great year. No one thought we'd get this far, and we love to prove everyone wrong. It's just too bad we didn't get to prove everyone wrong today against Bellarmine."