Murrieta Valley swept Temecula Valley 3-0 on Friday, Oct. 23, to clinch the Southwestern League girls volleyball championship.
The Nighthawks finished league play 8-1 and 24-7 overall, according to Valley News. Temecula Valley ended its league season at 4-5 and 14-11 overall.
MaxPreps, updated Thursday, Oct. 22, listed Murrieta Valley at 26-7 overall and 9-1 in league before the clinching match. That figure includes the Nighthawks' CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoff opener, a 3-2 win over Palos Verdes on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Valley News reported the league record as 8-1 and an overall mark of 24-7 that appears to reflect the regular season only.
Set scores for Friday's match were not available.
The league title caps an 8-1 run through Southwestern League play. According to MaxPreps, Murrieta Valley swept all four of its league matches against Temecula Valley and Vista Murrieta, beat Murrieta Mesa twice, beat Great Oak twice and split two matches with Chaparral. The lone league loss came Oct. 7 in a five-set match against Chaparral at home.
Junior outside hitter Summer Tukua has powered the Nighthawks' attack all season. The 6-foot hitter recorded her 1,000th career kill earlier this fall, Valley News reported Oct. 1. The Press Enterprise named Tukua its Inland girls athlete of the week in late September after she posted 24 kills against Chaparral and 17 kills, nine digs and six aces in a sweep of Temecula Valley. At that point, Tukua ranked second in the Inland area and third in the CIF Southern Section in kills, according to the Press Enterprise.
Tukua continued producing in the playoffs. She led Murrieta Valley with 20 kills in the five-set win over Palos Verdes on Oct. 20, while teammate Chandler Short added 16 kills and four aces, the Press Enterprise reported.
Coach Rochelle Short praised her team's fight after that playoff win.
"This team is very resilient and trusts each other to do the job and I love to see them making those adjustments when their backs are against the wall," she told the Press Enterprise after the Palos Verdes match.
The Nighthawks have already secured a CIF State tournament berth, the Press Enterprise reported. Their next test is a Division 2 quarterfinal against Orange Lutheran on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
