AN INCREDIBLE COMEBACK

Redlands East Valley girls volleyball coach Trish Vansant still has trouble finding the words to describe the moment.

The Wildcats were four points away from defeat in the CIF Division 2A title match when they staged an improbable comeback.

They fought off a handful of match points and survived a number of service errors on their own match points. At the conclusion, the Wildcats conquered top-seeded North Torrance, 21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 27-25, to capture the school's first section title.

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Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

REV's volleyball players celebrate after beating North Torrance in the Division 2A title match.

Redlands East Valley's thrilling comeback to win that title has been selected as the HS GameTime Girls Event of the Year.

"I truly don't know how it happened," Vansant said, nearly seven months after the match. "They just never gave up hope."

North Torrance raced to an 11-4 lead in the deciding game, but the Wildcats went on a 10-2 run to get back into the match. The teams continued to trade points and fight off match points.

Redlands East Valley had several chances to win but served into the net four times on match points. Freshman Krista Vansant thwarted three North Torrance match points with clutch kills, and she later closed out the match with back-to-back aces.

"I was telling myself, 'Get it in,' " Vansant said of the serves after the match. "They just happened to come up aces."

As a coach, Trish Vansant had thoughts the match might have been over when the score was 11-4. However, Vansant also was her team's biggest cheerleader and she continued to inspire her team down the stretch. That belief rubbed off onto the players.

"Win or lose, they were champions," Vansant said. "I guess something in the back of my mind told me they really could do this."