COMMUNITY COLLEGES : State Volleyball Tournament : Golden West Advances, Plays Grossmont

Christy Hooper had 19 kills and Barrie Dafforn had 54 assists as Golden West College defeated Santa Monica, 15-13, 9-15, 15-11, 15-13, Saturday to advance to the winners’ bracket final of the state community college volleyball championships at Cypress College.

Golden West (26-1), the state’s top-ranked team, will play second-ranked Grossmont (20-2) in the double-elimination tournament today at 11 a.m. The winner of that match will play for the championship at 6.

Santa Rosa and Chabot play today at 1:30, with the winner of that game advancing to the losers’ bracket final at 3:30. The winner of that game reaches the 6 p.m. championship game.

Grossmont, which handed Golden West its only defeat earlier in the season, defeated Pasadena, 15-4, 15-6, 15-4, Saturday.

After Golden West and Santa Monica (19-4) split the first two games, the Rustlers broke an 11-11 tie with four unanswered points to pull out the third-game victory.

Hooper had 8 kills in the third game; Dafforn had 22 assists.

In the fourth game, the Rustlers broke a 7-7 tie with five unanswered points as they held off a late Santa Monica rally to win the match.

Golden West was ahead, 14-8, when Santa Monica came within one with five straight points before Dafforn clinched the win with a game-ending spike.

“We played very tentative out there,” said Albert Gasparian, Golden West coach. “We got by on our reputation more than anything else. Santa Monica played really well and played some great defense out there, but we just didn’t execute.”

Earlier, Golden West overcame deficits of 7-0 in the first game and 14-6 in the fourth to defeat Chabot, 15-11, 15-12, 7-15, 16-14, in the first round.

Laura Phillips had 20 kills; Dafforn had 42 assists.