Cate Outlasts Bishop Diego in Five-Set Thriller

September 19, 2025

The Cate girls’ varsity volleyball team battled through highs and lows on Thursday night (9/12), holding off Bishop Diego in a five-set showdown to secure a hard-fought victory.

The Rams came out sharp, using aggressive serving and strong blocking to claim the opening set 25-17. Senior Emerson Evans sparked Cate at the service line and at the net, helping the team keep momentum in a 25-18 second-set win.

Bishop Diego fought back, staving off two match points before edging Cate 26-24 in the third. The Cardinals carried that energy into the fourth, capitalizing on their serving and attack to force a decisive fifth set. With the score knotted at 11-11 in the tiebreaker, Cate dug deep, and senior Oyin Opawumi sealed the match with a powerful kill for a 15-12 win.

“Really enjoyed what I saw from our team tonight—we went from almost sweeping a solid team to almost getting reverse swept, and ultimately earning a win through adversity,” head coach Jordon Dyer said. “We stepped up and left everything on the floor. Senior Evangeline Little passed an incredibly steady line on serve receive and also tallied up 25 digs, while senior Emerson Evans had 9 kills and senior Elsie Tsai dished out 26 assists. Senior Oyin Opawumi tallied up a monster stat line: 29 kills, 27 digs, 2 blocks and passed a 2.0 in serve receive!”

Set scores: 25-17, 25-18, 24-26, 20-25, 15-12

Cate will return home Tuesday (9/16) to face Louisville.