Sparks sisters help Edison sweep Los Alamitos in key Sunset League girls’ volleyball match
Edison High has two players who can give the girls’ volleyball team sparks throughout a match, and both are Sparks, sisters Lindsey and Emily.
With Lindsey moving away from her setting duties to hit during her senior year, the Chargers have recently gone to Emily to run the offense. The sophomore stood out in her second start as the setter on Wednesday.
Sparks finished with 17 assists, five service aces, six digs and one kill in Edison’s 25-20, 25-14, 25-14 sweep of Los Alamitos, helping the Chargers close out the first half of Sunset League play 4-1.
Edison stayed one match behind first-place Huntington Beach. The Oilers swept visiting Marina 25-20, 25-20, 25-8 on Wednesday.
The Chargers and Oilers shared the league title a year ago, and for Edison to have a chance at splitting it again, it will have to defeat Huntington Beach on Oct. 12. Edison has two matches — against Newport Harbor on Friday and Fountain Valley on Tuesday — before it plays host to the Oilers.
Huntington Beach won the first meeting 25-18, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20 last week.
“To be 4-1 in the Sunset League is good,” said Edison coach Matt Skolnik, who started Emily at setter in Saturday’s nonleague loss to Lakewood, ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll. “We kind of go up and down a little bit. That’s actually a different lineup. We’re just trying to see what the best chemistry is and put ourselves in a good spot to beat Newport and move forward.”
The Chargers (11-10 overall) impressed in what was supposed to be a battle of 3-1 teams in league.
Emily went to Edison’s middle blockers — Kristin Austin and Maggie Gunther — and they produced against Los Alamitos (16-8, 3-2 in league). Austin finished with nine kills and a .640 hitting percentage, and Gunther had seven kills and a .540 hitting percentage.
Edison blocked well and served tough. Austin had five blocks and Finley Garnett added four blocks.
Emily’s older sister also performed.
Lindsey recorded six kills and 14 digs, while Kealani Knickerbocker and Samantha Schofield had 16 digs apiece. Katelyn Sasaki contributed five kills.
“They kind of beat us every way possible,” said Los Alamitos coach Dave Huber, who had Navy Kaiser lead the Griffins with seven kills. “We didn’t find anything to get us going.
“[Let’s] see if we can show up with a little sense of urgency in the second half [of league].”
Twitter: @ByDCP
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