Orange Lutheran, Santa Ana Mater Dei resume indoor sports with girls’ volleyball

When Orange Lutheran hosted a girls’ volleyball match against Santa Ana Mater Dei in its gymnasium earlier this week, it was one of the first indoor matches since the California Department of Public Health issued new guidelines allowing indoor sports to begin with the help of enhanced testing requirements.

No parents or fans were allowed because both schools wanted to see how things went. The match was live-streamed. Both schools tested their players and coaches and verified rosters to make sure everyone was ready to go.

“The kids were really excited,” Mater Dei athletic director Amanda Waters said. “The energy, even though there weren’t fans, was really high. It was, ‘Who cares who’s winning. Let’s get the kids playing.’”

Orange Lutheran won the match, 3-1. The Trinity League plans to have a four-match girls’ volleyball season and will focus on that indoor sport before moving to basketball later this month or early April.

Mater Dei and Orange Lutheran both have private labs helping to test athletes.

“I came from public school,” Waters said when asked how schools should handle testing. “You have to find a company to come to your school to do it, then find a company to bill insurance so the school doesn’t have to pay for every test.”

More matches will take place Thursday.