SANTA CRUZ >> Santa Cruz High’s girls volleyball team cruised to a 25-13, 25-10, 25-9 sweep of Mount Madonna on Tuesday night to open its title defense in Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League play.

It was a valuable match for both teams as the Cardinals got to empty their bench, and the Hawks got to test themselves against the top team in the league. Well, one of them.

“Our league is strong,” said Harlina Manley Diaz, the Cardinals’ coach.

She knows that Harbor and Soquel always provide a challenge, Aptos and Scotts Valley are much improved, and San Lorenzo Valley and Mount Madonna are ready to pull off a stunner.

“We’re going to have to be prepared,” the Cardinals coach said. They were Tuesday.

The Cardinals (7-1, 1-0) maintained momentum after going 5-0 at the Nor-Cal Invitational at Rancho Cotate High on Saturday.

“The girls told me they want to put another number up on that banner after last year,” Manley Diaz said. “So there’s always that goal, but it’s going to be tough this year.”

Senior setter Antonia Wilson made 16 assists, six service aces, and three kills, senior outside hitter/defensive specialist Lily Pederson had three aces and three kills, and sophomore Natalie Monroe, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter/right side, had a team-high six kills in a limited role after shining over the weekend.

“It was nice to see the girls in a rhythm tonight, working on serving strong, passing well, and moving our offense around,” Manley Diaz said. “And we did. We got all 14 of our players in today, which was really great too.”

Santa Cruz relied on two of its strengths, the depth of its bench and back-row passing, in the sweep.

Senior libero Summer Pederson continued to excel with her passing. Junior outside hitter/defensive specialist Shelby Leonardich is also in one of the lead passing rotations.

Pederson and Wilson, who are among 10 seniors on the team, lead the squad, but Monroe has been leading in the attack. Senior middle blocker Daisy Manako has also been productive in the attack when she gets set.

“We spread it out,” Manley Diaz said.

Senior right side/middle blocker Ava Lord also returns for Santa Cruz.

“We lost a lot of seniors last year,” Lord said. “Even though we’ve all been playing volleyball with each other for so long, it still kinda feels like a new team. So we’re all just trying to figure out, like, who works best with each other, at what times, and what do we do when we get in trouble? But I think we’ve been working really hard. It’s starting to come together and looking real nice.”

The Cardinals saw senior middle Jordan Simpkins, one of the top blockers in the state last season, transfer to a high school in Kentucky in the offseason, but they’re hoping another senior talent, outside hitter Sadie Jeffrey, returns to the court soon. Jeffrey had offseason surgery on her ankle and is still sidelined.

Junior middle blocker Kelaiah Wynn, who played junior-varsity last season, is settling in nicely, her coach said.

Senior Julie Miritz is making the move from middle to right side. Some of the other seniors played on junior-varsity a year ago.

“With this team,” Manley Diaz said, “we’re going to see where our peak is. We’re not running out of the gate, firing on all pistons right away. We have a lot of development that’s going to happen very quickly on this team.”

Sophomore outside hitter Eden Fisher led the Hawks (1-4, 0-1) with five kills.

Mount Madonna, like Santa Cruz, has a huge senior class. For that reason, its focus is on this season, not the future.

“We’ve got a lot of really good pieces with this team,” Hawks coach PK McDonald said. “We’ve got size and a lot of potential with a lot of good players. But with this game, size is nice, but you have to pass the ball at a better level than we did tonight.”

McDonald said his team needs to improve its passing to take advantage of powerful hitters Fisher and 6-1 senior outside hitter Cy Harris. When it does, the results will improve, he said.

“We’ve got some weapons,” McDonald said. “We’ve got some really good weapons, but we need some girls to step up and really take over the passing game.”

Hawks junior Lagi Hunnicutt is in her first year playing setter.

Senior Anya Gonzalez is playing libero for the Hawks, who graduated all three of their serve-receive passers from last season.

“This is the level that we want to be,” said McDonald, of playing Santa Cruz, “so I’m glad for this wake-up call. We got shown what championship level SCCAL volleyball is. I really thing this team can come together and play at that level, but we have a lot of work to do.”

On Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Santa Cruz plays at Scotts Valley, and Mount Madonna (1-4, 0-1) hosts SLV.

At Harbor 3, Aptos 0 >> Junior outside hitter Isla Johnson had a team-high 12 kills, and the Pirates opened SCCAL play with a 25-16, 25-15, 26-24 sweep Tuesday.

Junior outside hitter Holly Rejfir made eight kills for the Pirates, and junior middle blocker Sabine Kemos made seven kills. Junior setter Maren O’Farrell had 14 assists and five kills.

Senior outside hitter Peyton Westjohn had six kills, eight digs, and two aces for the Mariners. Junior middle Claire Willoughby had six kills and hitting .385, and freshman outside hitter Ella Dueck had nine kills, 11 digs, and two aces.

On Thursday, Aptos (4-2, 0-1) plays at Hollister at 6:30 p.m., and Harbor (11-5, 1-0) plays at Soquel at 7 p.m.

Soquel 3, SLV 0 >> Junior Claire Petersen had nine kills, and the Knights opened SCCAL play with a 25-6, 25-8, 25-8 sweep on Tuesday night.

Juniors Jesse Dueck and Mary Henderson each had seven aces, which helped give the Knights 21 total.

At Pajaro Valley 3, St. Francis 1 >> The Grizzlies prevailed 25-22, 25-22, 17-25, 25-17 in the teams’ nonleague match Tuesday night.

Carley Anderson had seven kills, three aces, and three blocks for the Sharks. Peyton Orradre had seven kills, 10 digs, and one block, Delaney Fowler had five kills and three blocks, and Georgia Otzman made 15 assists.

At Watsonville 3, North Salinas 2 >> Daisy Cornejo had 15 kills and nine aces, and the Wildcatz prevailed in five sets Tuesday, 25-20, 25-12, 17-25, 19-25, 15-13.

Calina Casillas had 7 kills and four aces. Danicka Hernandez had five aces.

Watsonville (3-0) plays at Soledad on Thursday at 6 p.m. to open Pacific Coast Athletic League Mission Division play.

Molina Ruiz’s goal narrowed the Seahawks’ deficit to 2-1.

Victor Vargas had two goals and an assist for the Bear Cubs (3-0-0).

Cabrillo (0-1-1) plays at Allan Hancock (3-1-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m.

Table tennis

Major League Table Tennis >> Kaiser Permanente Arena, home of the Santa Cruz Warriors, will host a Major League Table Tennis (MLTT) event on Sept. 22 and 23 at 5 p.m., and Sept. 24 at 1 p.m. Tickets are on sale now, and can be purchased on the official MLTT website at mltt.com/tickets.

The 2023-24 MLTT season runs from September to March, with events played bi-weekly and a Final Four match played in April. MLTT is the premier and only professional table tennis league in the United States and consists of eight city-based teams split between East and West divisions. Players in the tournament will compete for prize money of over $250,000, which stands as the highest amount within the sport.