MURRIETA — Melanie Hewlett, Ryleigh Short and Miley Thunstrom started their high school volleyball careers with masks on their faces. They hope it ends with championship hardware in their hands. Murrieta Valley senior girls volleyball player from left Ryleigh Short, Miley Thunstrom, outside hitters, and setter, Melanie Hewlett in Murrieta on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) Murrieta Valley senior girls volleyball players from left Ryleigh Short, Miley Thunstrom, outside hitters, and setter, Melanie Hewlett in Murrieta on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) Murrieta Valley’s volleyball team will be playing for a CIF title with senior players: clockwise from top Ryleigh Short, Miley Thunstrom, outside hitters, and setter, Melanie Hewlett leading the way in Murrieta on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 3Murrieta Valley senior girls volleyball player from left Ryleigh Short, Miley Thunstrom, outside hitters, and setter, Melanie Hewlett in Murrieta on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) Expand   Hewlett, Short and Thunstrom arrived at Murrieta Valley High School during the fall of 2021, when athletes still were required to wear protective face coverings because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those three players were the only freshmen to make the varsity squad that season, but they quickly established themselves as the foundation for the program’s future. Now senior leaders, this trio has helped the Nighthawks advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship match, which will be played at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk. “I say this with love, but they were babies,” Murrieta Valley coach Ann Romero-Parks recalled about seeing those three players walk into the gymnasium for the first time. “They were tall and lanky, but they loved the game. They were not afraid and they were willing to learn.” The Murrieta Valley girls volleyball program reached the section finals for the first time in 2019. Led by senior twin sisters Brianna and Kimberly DeBoer, the Nighthawks finished as the Division 2 runners-up that season after a heartbreaking five-set loss to Esperanza. The 2020 season was all but lost to the pandemic (Murrieta Valley played only one match), and the program hit the reset button in 2021. Hewlett, a setter, and Short and Thunstrom, a pair of outside hitters, joined a veteran group of players during that initial campaign. “A lot of young players would have been intimidated stepping into a situation like that, but not them,” Romero-Parks said. “COVID really affected our program more than we realized because we lost our leadership that year (2020). All the players who knew what we were looking for and needed to win had graduated. It took some time to rebuild that. “Little pieces of that started to come back, and then this core group of freshmen came in. And we made a decision that season that we wanted them on varsity because we need to train that next group of leaders.” Murrieta Valley averaged 21 wins between the 2021 and 2023 seasons. Postseason success eluded the program, however, as the Nighthawks were swept in the first round of the Division 2 playoffs each season. And that past disappointment has fueled the current playoff run. “All three of those (playoff) losses were different, but last year’s (to Rancho Cucamonga) really stuck with them,” Romero-Parks said. “The disappointment after that match was extremely high because we didn’t play well that night. And these girls vowed to never have that feeling again.” Romero-Parks loaded up the team’s nonleague schedule this season, including a trip to Hawaii for the prestigious Ann Kang Invitational. The Nighthawks went 4-4 against some of the nation’s elite squads, with one of those wins coming against perennial powerhouse Redondo. “Going to Hawaii was very important for our team,” said Thunstrom, a 6-doot-1 outside hitter who will sign a national letter of intent next week with Saint Mary’s. “We really bonded as a team during the trip, and that team chemistry just gets stronger each and every day.” Murrieta Valley would go on to claim a share of the Southwestern League championship after splitting its matches with Temecula Valley. That was a significant moment, as it marked only the fifth league title in the program’s history and its first since the 2009 season. And this time, the success has carried over into the postseason. The Nighthawks (28-7) swept Ridgecrest Burroughs in the opening round before winning back-to-back five-setters over West Ranch and Orange Lutheran. Murrieta Valley then swept Etiwanda to reach the championship match. “In the past, I think we let (playoff matches) get into our heads too much,” said Short, a 5-11 outside hitter who will be signing with Sacred Heart next week. “Now we treat it like any other match. We just need to play the way we know we can play and get the job finished.” The chemistry between a setter and her outside hitters is crucial. Hewlett always seems to be in sync with Short and Thunstrom because they also have played together at the club level at times in recent years. Short and Thunstrom combined for 68 kills over the past two matches. “We have played so long together that I know exactly what they want whenever I’m setting them the ball,” said the 5-9 Hewlett, who will follow in the footsteps of the DeBoer twins at San Francisco State. “It’s almost like we can communicate without even saying a word.” Related Articles High School Sports | IE Varsity’s previews of top CIF Southern Section football playoff openers High School Sports | Yucaipa boys water polo team knocks off San Juan Hills in Division 1 quarterfinal match High School Sports | Webb boys water polo team outlasts Hemet in Division 5 quarterfinal match High School Sports | IE Varsity’s CIF Southern Section playoff scoreboard, Nov. 6 High School Sports | Banning football standout Deven Ray Jr. has emerged from a dark past toward a bright future Saturday’s title match against Palos Verdes will be one of the final steps of a four-year journey that started with unusual circumstances. “It has taken a lot of hard work to get here. We don’t take it for granted because this is something not a lot of players get to experience,” Hewlett said about playing for a CIF Southern Section championship. “It all seems a bit crazy to be here, but it’s also something we always knew we were capable of doing.”