SOUTH EL MONTE — South El Monte’s girls volleyball team kept its composure down the stretch and captured the CIF Southern Section Division 9 championship with a five-set win over Nogales, 27-25, 23-25, 14-25, 25-12, 15-12, on Saturday night.

It is the first CIF-SS volleyball championship in school history for the Eagles.

Both teams advance to the CIF State tournament that begins next week.

“We never would have thought we’d get this far,” South El Monte coach Kristina Puckett said. “We made it to the playoffs and just ran with it. You’ve got to keep your composure and focus on our side of the net, and that’s exactly what these girls did.”

The Eagles fell behind in the fifth game, 9-4, but rallied to tie the score at 12-12 with a pair of points by Elise Gonzalez and a serve by Daniella G

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