Capuchino volleyball queens of the PAL Ocean Division

“We kind of got a ball and we just started peppering, and I was just like hyped for the game,” Cap sophomore Daniella Roberov said. “So, I was ready. I was excited to hit.”

Roberov and the Mustangs didn’t skip a beat, rolling to a 25-13, 25-15, 25-20 sweep to wrap up the program’s second all-time Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division crown.

Cap (12-0 PAL Ocean, 20-3 overall) entered the day having clinched no less than a tie for the league title, but coach Allen Lau — running the team Tuesday due to the absence of first-year head coach Julia Rodman — knew his players were aware they needed one more win to wrap up the Mustangs’ first league title since 2022.

“We are mindful of that but we are also careful with that,” Lau said. “We also tell the team that we have to execute well, and then even though, right now, if we win this game we secure the position for the champion, the next two games we still have to perform like that so we can prep hopefully for a better [Central Coast Section playoff] performance.”

The Mustangs graduated just three seniors from last year’s CCS Division III semifinal team, and great expectations for 2025 and beyond with a core group on returning sophomores. The only question mark for Cap — after a second-place finish in the Ocean last year, and league champion Half Moon Bay moving up the Bay Division — was about how San Mateo, moving down from the Bay to the Ocean, would affect the league’s power structure.

“I was just confident that we were going to be good,” Roberov said. “But we were a little scared of San Mateo because they just moved down a league. So, we were a little scared, but then we got the rhythm and we were good.”

With 11 straight wins in PAL Ocean play, while dropping just one set in the Sept. 11 league opener to El Camino, fear is no longer a part of the equation for the Mustangs. And they played like it Tuesday.

Junior defensive specialist Cameron Luz led off on the service line for Cap, and immediately had San Mateo out of sorts. The Mustangs jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead in Game 1, and never trailed in the opening two sets. Luz finished with a match-high five service aces, Roberov finished with four aces, and senior libero Jana Hernandez, junior outside hitter Maya Canas, and sophomore middle Mia Santos-Stevenson had two aces apiece.

“We do a very extensive practice on serving,” Lau said. “The type of serve, the position to serve to, it’s very specific to this game. We work a lot on that.”

San Mateo (8-4, 9-11) managed just three team kills in the opening set, and only one on an attacking run, when sophomore opposite hitter Ellie Polnar swung to the left side to tool a block. The Bearcats’ other two kills in the set were from Polnar and junior Kawena Mosca, with Polnar burying an overpass, and Mosca dumping a second touch over net.

The Bearcats have just one senior on roster this season in setter Arianna Mosca, who has been playing behind freshman setter Haruka Koide much of the season. Koide started the match Tuesday, with Arianna Mosca entering and taking over the 5-1 offense through games 2 and 3.

“She very loud on the court, and you can feel her presence,” Polnar said of her senior teammate, “and she’s always positive, she never puts people down, and makes sure you know that if you make a mistake it’s OK. She picks everybody up.”

San Mateo graduated eight seniors after a disappointing 2024 season.

“I actually didn’t really think about it, because we have a pretty strong team chemistry,” Polnar said. “And Ari honestly did bring us together. But I think that we did pretty well.”

Polnar finished with five kills, two blocks and two aces, all team-highs for the sophomore as the Bearcats are on the fringe for CCS postseason consideration. With only the PAL Ocean Division champion guaranteed of a CCS playoff bid, the three teams that entered play Tuesday tied for second place in the Ocean — San Mateo, El Camino and Mills — will all be bucking for at-large bids.

“We absolutely have to win the next two matches,” San Mateo head coach Lucky Makropoulos said. “which we have South San Francisco, we have Terra Nova, which in season we’ve beat ... so I think we’re going to feel good about that. The question becomes our other counterparts of Mills and El Camino, and how they play out for their other matches.”

Roberov and Santos-Stevenson paced Cap with eight kills apiece Tuesday. Roberov scored four of her five aces in Game 2, including three in a row to up the lead to 19-10.

San Mateo opened Game 3 on a 5-0 run, but Cap answered with a 9-1 run to swing ahead. The Bearcats caught up at 17-all, but misfired into the net to fall back 1. Santos-Stevenson followed by peppering a kill through the middle, and Roberov scored three kills off the right side down the stretch to bring it home.

Lau — who served as head coach in an official capacity for the past six seasons — said the team plays the same whether Rodman is coaching or he is filling in as interim head coach.

“It’s the same because Julia and I played volleyball together, we’re good friends, and I’m in almost every single practice,” Lau said. “So, I know what they’re doing, what they’re practicing, and I help them with individual skill and stuff like that. So, we are on the same page with everything.”