Cats take trip to the hardware store

The Saddleback women's volleyball team won its first conference title in 25 years and found out on Wednesday that they had six players and a coach make the All-Orange Empire Conference Team.  Stila Fresenius was named the OEC MVP while head coach Brian Hughes won the OEC Coach-of-the-Year.

Saddleback had quite a finish to the regular season, winning eight of the final nine matches of the season in winning the Orange Empire Conference championship for the first time since 1997.  Along with it came the awards on Wednesday as the coaches convened for the post-season conference meeting.

Fresenius was a force for Saddleback all season, leading the squad in a number of categories.  She had a team-high 504 kills for the season, which was nearly double of anyone else in the conference and led the state by a wide margin.  Fresenius also finished second in the conference in digs (291) and third in hitting percentage (.354) while finishing in a tie for second on the team in service aces (29).

Joining Fresenius on the All-Orange Empire Conference First Team were Olivia Gonzalez, Tyler Ebrahimzadeh and Ella Barnard. 

Gonzalez played a large part in the success of Fresenius, dishing out 794 assists during the season.  Her total ranked sixth in the state and second in the conference.  In addition, Gonzalez was second on the team in digs (176) and tied for fourth in service aces (20).

Ebrahimzadeh was another force in the defensive end, finishing with 113 digs while playing in 22 matches.  She finished fifth on the team in digs and fourth in kills (66) while finishing fourth in block assists (24).

Barnard finished with the top hitting percentage on the team (.375), which was the fifth best percentage in the state and second best in the conference.  She also led the team in block assists (42).

Saddleback had two others make the All-Orange Empire Conference Second Team in Bryn Craig-Kromm and Eva Gardner.  Craig-Kromm led the team with 35 aces during the season while finishing fourth in digs (132).  Gardner finished with 165 digs for the season, which was third on the team.

Coach Brian Hughes was selected as the OEC Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Bobcats to a conference title for the first time since 1997.   For Hughes, the 18 wins during the regular season was his highest total since winning 19 games in 2017.  Saddleback has a chance to improve on that number in the coming weeks as the 3C2A Southern California Regional Tournament starts this weekend.  The Bobcats will find out on Thursday how high they will be seeded for the tournament.