Students in the first few rows held sticks with huge cutouts of the heads of the Sage Hill School girls' volleyball players. As if Sage Hill's opponent on Saturday had not seen enough of the Lightning.
For the second time in eight days, Crean Lutheran faced the Lightning, in the stands and on the court. The second meeting turned out much like last week's in the CIF Southern Section Division 3A finale.
Sage Hill finished the Saints in three sets, 25-17, 25-19, 25-22, in the second round of the CIF State Southern California Regional Division III playoffs in front of a raucous home crowd. The third-seeded Lightning advanced to the Southern California Regional finals for the first time.
Sage Hill (28-5), which began competing on varsity 12 years ago, made history by thumping the team it shared the Academy League title with during the regular season. Ever since Sage Hill dropped a five-set match at Crean Lutheran on Oct. 29, costing the program its first outright league crown, the Lightning have been on a mission.