Lycee International volleyball stays in league title hunt
BURBANK — After a week off for a school break, the Lycee International of Los Angeles girls’ volleyball team was back on the court Monday to resume its quest for an International League championship.
“I was kind of nervous coming into today because we had a week off,” Lions coach Leonardo Granato said. “You never know how the team is going to be when it returns after having that much time off.”
Despite the time off, LILA returned with an impressive performance. Led by its serving, the Lions earned a league sweep of Sequoyah, 25-20, 25-12, 25-14, in a match that took 54 minutes to complete at Olive Recreation Center.
LILA had 28 aces against the Gryphons (6-5 overall).
“In the beginning in practice, we were kind of off a little bit, but we got right back into it,” said LILA’s Chloe Whyte, who had a team-high seven kills to go along with 10 aces. “I don’t think the time off affected us too much at all.
“I thought we played well as a team and I was really happy with the way we served today. Our serving has really helped us in a lot of our games.”
The win kept LILA (8-1 overall and in league) in a tie for first place in the International League with St. Monica Academy. With just two more matches remaining, the Lions are looking to capture their first league title in just the third year as a program.
“We just have to finish strong and then hopefully be ready for the playoffs,” Granato said.
LILA plays Waverly on Thursday and finishes with Le Lycee on Oct. 24.
The Lions took advantage of some serve-receive problems by Sequoyah. In the opening set, LILA had 10 aces.
LILA jumped out to a 10-2 lead on a Gryphons’ attacking error into the net. The Lions looked to close out the opener after increasing their lead to 22-11. But Sequoyah fought back, going on a 7-0 run to whittle the advantage down to 22-18. LILA got kills from Whyte and Dylan Priestley (seven kills, six aces) and clinched the set on a serving error.
“When we get a lead, we have to be able to put it away,” Granato said. “We can’t let teams get on these runs and get back into the game.
“I told them from point 1 to point 25, it doesn’t matter what the score is we have got to go and we can’t let up no matter what. Sometimes we do this thing where we slow down and don’t keep up our intensity. … If you leave the door open some teams are going to shut it on you.”
The Lions again had 10 aces in the second set. But the hosts got out to a slow start, as Sequoyah opened with a 4-0 lead. The Gryphons were still in front, 8-7, when the Lions made a move. LILA snatched the momentum with an 8-0 run and a 15-8 lead following a Sequoyah unforced error. LILA finished the set on a 10-4 run.
Another sizable run aided LILA in the third set. With the Gryphons in front, 13-11, the Lions embarked on a 12-0 run to take a 23-13 advantage on the strength of clutch serving from Cynthia Randriananja (eight aces). A kill by Whyte completed the sweep.
Twitter: @jefftsports
