Aragon earns first-ever CCS crown

No. 1-seed Aragon (27-6 overall) swept past Mountain View 25-15, 25-16, 25-20 Saturday at Gunn High School, scoring a reprieve for Stiles, who while she was a player at Aragon made the program’s only other appearance in the CCS finals.

“I’m kind of on a high right now,” Stiles said. “I’m just thrilled.”

The Dons fell to Los Gatos in straight sets that fateful night some 16 years ago, and despite advancing as far as the semifinals three times since — including in the past two seasons — they had not returned to the big dance.

Until Saturday.

It was fitting setter Della Trimble was the star of the show. The senior not only totaled 31 assists, she was a force through every rotation, matching junior defensive specialist Megan Shen with 13 digs, and also racking up five kills and seven blocks.

“She’s awesome,” Stiles said. “We love having her in the front row.”

When Stiles manned outside hitter for Aragon in 2002, it was Trimble’s mother Annette — now coach of the junior-varsity Dons — who was the varsity head coach, when the newly-born Trimble was just a baby.

Now, as Aragon history comes full circle, Trimble as the team captain put forth the most dynamic performance of her career in the CCS finale, especially in limiting No. 3 Mountain View’s attack. Of Aragon’s nine team blocks, Trimble paired with sophomore middle Ella Sears on a majority of them. Sears was in on five blocks, while junior middle Maddie Campbell added three.

“I haven’t been blocking,” Trimble said. “But this game was my best blocking game I’ve had all season. It was great.”

The Dons ran a three-pronged attack to command early leads in each of the opening two sets. Outside hitters Lydia Manu and Amanda Patea shared the match-high with 10 kills apiece, while Sears worked the middle for six kills.

“I think we settled in from the opening serve,” Sears said. “… It usually takes us a while to get into a groove. We all just got into it from the beginning.”

Patea ruled Game 1, going for six kills in the set, including the final two points. She tooled the block off the left side for each, converting a long cross-court set by Trimble to finish it off.

Mountain View (26-10) contended early in Game 2, getting four set kills from senior middle Reyhaneh Turner, trading points to push the action to a 7-7 tie. Then the Dons got a momentum charge from a Sears block through the middle, setting off an 11-1 run. Up 18-8, Aragon walked it home from there, finishing the job after Manu forced set point with a roll shot, before the junior slammed home the closer off the left side.

Game 3 saw Aragon overcome an early 3-0 deficit. The Dons tied it up at 8-8 and barbed with Mountain View for ties at six different junctures. Then, deadlocked at 16-16, Aragon seized control from the service line. Freshman defensive specialist Gabriella Oaks aced a serve to give the Dons a 17-16 to set off a 4-0 run, featuring Trimble dumping a quick shot over middle, Oaks serving another ace, and Manu riding the sideline off the left pin for a kill.

Shen later scored back-to-back aces to force championship point at 24-17. Then after a three-point run by Mountain View, Sears scored the historic kill to give Aragon its first-ever CCS crown.

“Performance wise, I thought this was one of our top games,” Sears said. “Everyone connected really well.”

In three wins to advance through the Division II bracket, Aragon dropped just one set. After a first-round bye, the Dons swept past No. 9 Pioneer-San Jose in the quarterfinals. They then dropped the opening set in the semifinals to No. 5 Presentation-San Jose before bouncing back to win the next three.

“We started the No. 1 seed, which was a lot of promise, and we just carried it,” Stiles said.

Many of the Dons rushed off after accepting the Division II trophy — hoisted in the air in unison by Trimble and Manu — to attend Aragon’s homecoming dance. It was a festive night indeed as all the Lady Dons senior volleyballers arrived at the dance as queens of the CCS.

“I’m so excited,” Trimble said. “I’m so happy. … It’s my senior year, so I’m happy for my seniors and I’m happy for everyone else. We worked really hard to get here. So, it feels great to reach our goal.”