By Pete Borello

It seems the St. Francis High girls volleyball team never takes its eyes off the prize.

Shortly after defeating Mira Costa (Manhattan Beach) in five games Saturday to claim their second straight state Division II title, the Lancers began looking ahead to next season.

“The girls were talking about it after the match,” St. Francis coach Dave Gambelin said. “They were saying, ‘Remember this because we want to get back here next year.’”

With all but one starter set to return in the fall, St. Francis and its supporters might be wise to clear their calendars the first weekend of December, 2002, for a return trip to Cypress College.

And considering four of these starters are only sophomores - including Saturday’s star Jessica Gysin - they may want to prepare for another visit to Southern California in 2003.

“We enjoy it down there,” said Gambelin, who has led St. Francis to four state crowns in five years and six total.

None of the Lancers’ championships were as difficult to attain as the latest, the only one that went five games. After almost 2 1/2 hours, St. Francis came away with a hard-fought 9-15, 15-8, 13-15, 15-4, 15-11 victory.

“It’s what I envisioned,” Gambelin said. “After watching how we’ve been playing and then watching (Mira Costa) on film, it looked like an even match. The girls thought so , too. We knew it would come down to whoever rises to the top.”

And no player rose above Gysin, who led the Lancers with a state-match record 37 kills. The outside hitter saved her best for last, hammering down the match-winning kill.

Gysin finished with a state-match record for hitting percentage (.540) and made only two errors in 69 swings.

“Jessica was on fire - she played an outstanding match,” Gambelin said. “And (Mira Costa) couldn’t key on her because we have so many other weapons.”

St. Francis (30-2), which broke its own state-match mark for team hitting percentage (.490), had three other players with double-digit kills: Diane Copenhagen (15); Colby Lyman (11); and Kamala Sipin (11). Lyman also had 20 digs.

Setter Christa Conom set a state-match record with 71 assists and put on her best performance of the year, Gambelin said.

Several of her assists came in the decisive game, which Mira Costa (32-6) led 6-5 early on. St. Francis then scored six straight points to take control for good.