On Tuesday, Nov. 21, the quarterfinal round of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state tournament took place in San Diego featuring two teams who were both desperate for a berth in the semifinal round. The matchup pitted the fourth-seeded Foothill girls’ varsity volleyball team against the top-seeded Centurions of University City High School.

Despite being an ‘underdog’ by technicality, it was the Dragons who played like the number one seed. With set scores of 25-23, 22-25, 25-19, and 26-24, Foothill was able to knock off the first-ranked team in their section of the bracket by a final tally of three sets to one. Just like that, the Dragons are one of the four teams left standing. The tournament began with a total of 31 schools vying for the championship.

Haley Higgins ‘19 believes that the victory over the Centurions showed the “energy on the court” that the team is capable of displaying.

“The team is stoked, we all worked so hard tonight,” she said. “Everyone was present in the moment and we played smart volleyball which made it easy to expose their weaknesses. We are fired up and ready to work hard for our next match.”

With the win, the Dragons’ next step on their quest for a state championship will be in the semifinals against the Broncos of Rancho Bernardo High School. The Broncos won their quarterfinal match in five sets against Heritage Christian School on Tuesday.

Rancho Bernardo is seeded third in the tournament (opposed to the Dragons, who remain the fourth seed), which means the game will be played at Rancho Bernardo High School in San Diego on Saturday, Nov. 25.