SAN JOSE — Archbishop Mitty was the first school to win the CIF NorCal Division I boys volleyball championship, doing so when the regional tournament was inaugurated in 2013.

Twelve years later, the Monarchs are now also the first NorCal team to reach the state championship after beating Clovis East 3-1 for the D-I crown at home on Saturday.

Mitty knew it had a special group when the season began, and the state title match, introduced for the first time in 2025, was the north star of a campaign with so much promise.

The Monarchs (40-2) will face Mira Costa (36-2), the Southern Regional’s top seed, in the Division I state championship match at Fresno City College on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

“It was exhilarating,” Mitty assistant coach Gregg Gallegos said of Saturday’s victory. Gallegos took over in March when head coach Lacey Gera temporarily stepped down to go on maternity leave.

It took Mitty some time to get going on Saturday. Clovis East, despite enduring a brutal travel schedule that included an eight-hour-plus bus ride back to Clovis amid holiday traffic on Friday night after a semifinal win in San Jose over Harker, won the first set 25-22 and had a 6-0 lead to begin the second frame.

At that point, the Monarchs started running out of time to turn it on.

“I can’t say it verbatim,” Gallegos said of his speech after calling a timeout at the pivotal moment. “It was just a mindset thing, and it’s just reminding them that you are better than them, you are better than the person across from you. And like, you need to start believing that.”

Mitty flipped the switch immediately thereafter, and once the Monarchs did, it stuck. They tied the set at 9-9 and won 25-17.

Around the same time, star hitter William Dryden, always an excellent player, became simply unstoppable. Led by Dryden, Mitty surged to the finish line, winning the final two sets 25-17 and 25-18.

“We definitely got some more energy,” Dryden said. “We realized that what we needed to do was improve defensively. Once we were able to do that, we were able to get the ball to more people, spread out the offense, and I knew it was time to take over.

“That’s what we needed in this game.”

The win was bittersweet validation for Gera, who had to watch from the bleachers as the team she built romped through the NorCal playoffs. Mitty dropped just one set in the Division I tournament, punctuating a postseason run that also included its first Central Coast Section championship in 12 years.

“I knew going into this season, even though I was pregnant, this team was going to be really special and this season was going to be pretty spectacular,” Gera said. “Which it has been. Winning WCAL, winning CCS, winning every tournament that we’ve been in, and now winning NorCal. I’m really proud and honored to have established this program, but also have the support of my staff.

“It’s emotional to be able to have someone step in like Greg, who is devoted, passionate, a great coach, a great person, to be here and take over. I have that trust in the staff, that they’re gonna do a really good job, which obviously they have. I’m just really happy. Even though I’m just a cheerleader now, I’m the biggest fan by far.”

Gera plans to make the trip to Fresno for the state title game, which will be Dryden’s final match with the Monarchs. His volleyball career isn’t over — he’ll head to UC Santa Barbara this fall.

But it will be his last time in Mitty black and gold, and he plans to make it count.

“It’s very special,” Dryden said. “Especially the fact that it’s my senior year. I’ve been on this team for three years, building and getting better every year. Now that it’s my senior year, we finally get the chance to do that.”