Lycee International volleyball loses five-game heartbreaker in second round

BURBANK — It couldn’t get much closer than the five-set thriller that the Lycee International of Los Angeles girls’ volleyball team played in its CIF Southern Section Division X second-round match on Thursday night.

Similarly to most fifth sets, it came down to a missed hit here and some luck there. Unfortunately for the Lions, their season ended in a crushing way at Providence High School, in a 25-22, 22-25, 20-25, 25-22, 13-15 match with Eastside Christian.

LILA, in only its third season, captured the International League for the first time, but bowed out in its opening match of the postseason for the second consecutive year.

After a bye in the first round, the Lions (10-2) welcomed the Eagles (21-3-2), in a match that turned out to be one to remember.

For coach Leonardo Granato, not all will be remembered fondly.

“You know you’re supposed to win, then comes that shock and awe, and then you start thinking about the previous point and those start adding up,” said Granato of a second game in which there were two questionable and costly calls. “The refs are human but it sucks when they take control of a game. They took something from these girls and that will always break my heart.”

LILA prevailed in the first game that had 13 ties and eight lead changes. It would set the tone for the rest of the match.

Lycee scored six unanswered after giving up six of the first seven in the second set. The Lions looked to go up 22-14 on an Eastside Christian swing that went out of bounds. However, the first referee ruled the ball was touched and gave the point to the Eagles. Moments later, another disputed call went against the Lions, slimming their lead to 22-20. The second call resulted in Granato getting a yellow card.

The calls reignited the Eagles, who ended the game scoring 11 of the final 12 points to take the game over a clearly rattled LILA squad.

The momentum shift carried over into the third game, where Eastside Christian held a lead for all but the first two points.

Dylan Priestley (19 kills) and Chloe Whyte (12 kills) helped keep the Lions close, but the Eagles pulled away late, scoring eight of the final 11 points.

After the third, Granato assured and promised his team would play a fifth.

“I’ve never doubted this team,” he said. “I knew we were going five and telling them, ‘It’s going to be a long night’ seems to get the pressure off.”

In the fourth, the Lions would not take the lead until the 20-19 mark, before an emphatic kill by Priestley forced the deciding fifth.

The fifth game was just as close as the previous four, with Eastside Christian at an advantage for most of the way. An ace from Priestley gave the Lions a 4-3 early lead but a service error followed. Eastside Christian took the next point and wouldn’t relinquish the lead.

“It’s what we’ve been doing,” Granato said. “I don’t know why, but we’re used to getting our backs against the wall and keep fighting. The season didn’t end the way we wanted to, but they showed resiliency and battled. I couldn’t be more proud.”