On August 22 2023 the San Dimas lady Saints Varsity Volleyball team faced the Bonita Bearcats at Bonita High School for their annual cross town rivalry game called “The ACE”. The Saints were going in as the underdog being that they had not won The ACE since 2019, the Saints were ready to change that.

The first set began and the Saints struggled to find their groove. The Bearcats had triple the amount of students attending then the Saints did, but the Bearcats could not compare to the amount of energy that the San Dimas student section brought. The Saints picked it up in the first set, but fell short and lost 22-25. When asked how she felt the rest of the game was going to play out after the loss, senior captain Aydan Romero said, “I knew after we lost that set we were going to have to compete”.

The second set began and the Saints came to play. With amazing passing from sophomore libero Salina De Anda and many kills from all the hitters the Saints were on fire. The second set ended with a score of 25-17. The game was now tied 1-1. The third set began and it was a good one. The Saints and Bearcats battled back and forth to the end. The game went over 25 points with an ending score of 26-28.

Now heading into the third set the Saints knew they could not lose another. The Saints were down 2 sets to 1 but these ladies knew they could do it. Reflecting back on the game Romero said “I knew we had it after we won the second set because their huge egos were crushed, so when we lost the third I had no doubt in my mind”. Going into the fourth set the Saints were confident and ready to take the game.  

The fourth set was full of kills from sophomore Jayden Hanson and big blocks from junior Jaelyn Ramos. The Saints ended the game with a huge win with a score of 25-11. Then into the 5th they went where Hanson went on a huge serving run and scored 10 straight points with 4 aces. The game ended with a kill from senior Kennedy Bulick. The score was 15-6. The Lady Saints and their fans went crazy, while the Bearcats silently left their gym.

This was the Saints first win since 2019, and it was a big one. The Lady Saints came in as the underdog, and left as the winners. When asked what it meant to Bulick and Romero to win this game Bulick said “It felt amazing, obviously because Bonita is our rival, but it went deeper than that, they fully believed that they were going to win, so beating them at their school, in front of their fans felt really good.” Romero added on “Especially since it is our Senior year, we have both been on Varsity since sophomore year and we haven’t beat them the past two years, so to win together our final year is amazing” 

In the past 4 years the Saints have won 2 games and the Bearcats have also one 2. The battle for the ACE will be a big one next year.