The 25-19, 25-17, 25-22 blitz put CdM (30-6) into the Southern California Regional final Tuesday at Redlands East Valley. It’s a rematch of the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA final won by Redlands East Valley on Nov. 21.
The Wildcats also beat the Sea Kings in the section final and regional title match in 2008.
Boukather had five of her nine kills in the opening set, when the Sea Kings pulled away and asserted firm command.
The 6-foot-1 Boukather added a team-best three aces and two block assists to clearly sparkle for the visitors, the No. 6 seed in the eight-team Southern California bracket.
“Morgan is a great player,” CdM Co-Coach Darryl Gan said. “She’s a junior and she’s going to be an amazing player later on. But she has been huge all year for us.”
Boukather said it was nice to be pain free.
“It hurt to breathe,” she said of the injury sustained before the first-round match, but played nonetheless.
Little that No. 3-seeded Elsinore did seemed to hurt the Sea Kings, whose solid ball control allowed them to exploit the middle and display their now-trademark offensive balance.
Claire Ham, a 6-2 junior middle blocker, and 5-11 senior middle Amanda Nickel also finished with nine kills.
Meanwhile, senior outside hitter Sydney Brombal had six kills and added strong passing. Mary McKennon, a 5-9 sophomore outside hitter, chipped in five kills and four digs, while junior libero Katelyn Baker had a team-high 11 digs.
Senior setter Madie Smith, bound for the University of San Diego, masterfully kept opposing blockers guessing on her way to 30 assists. She added seven digs, two kills and two block assists.
Junior Catherine Sullivan chipped in four digs off the bench.
“I’ve talked about a balanced offense a lot, and when we’re sharp, we’re balanced,” Gan said. “And when we’re balanced, we’re hard to stop.”
