Glendale bounces back to get through cross-town rival Hoover

Falling behind and dropping the first set of a match has been a pattern throughout much of the season for the Glendale High girls’ volleyball team.

Fortunately for them, the Nitros were able to regroup during Thursday’s Pacific League match against cross-town rival Hoover.

Glendale received a match-best 15 kills from Leila Manaois to post a 23-25, 26-16, 25-22, 25-12 home victory.

“We’ve just been starting slow in the first set for the first half of league and it takes time to figure things out,” Glendale Coach Ta’ase Mose said. “Give credit to Hoover for coming out and fighting and forcing us to make mistakes.

“We lost the first game and I was shocked. Hoover did a great job at digging up balls and we had to find a way to get back into it.”

Glendale (4-8, 3-4 in league) looked sharper in the final three sets to pull away in the first of two head-to-head meetings with Hoover (2-10, 0-7). The teams will meet again Oct. 25 at Hoover.

Manaois had seven kills in the first set before Hoover rallied from a 22-15 deficit. An ace by Nareh Andryaeyan capped the comeback and appeared to lift the Tornadoes’ confidence.

“They had to find a way to challenge themselves and prove to themselves they could make the adjustments,” said Mose, who guided the Nitros to a playoff appearance last season. “When you put yourself in a hole, like we did tonight, you sometimes have to let them figure out what’s wrong and get back up to speed.”

Glendale received an ace from Saku Yoshioka to take a 9-4 lead in the second set. The Nitros then extended their lead to 17-10 before the Tornadoes pulled to within 22-16. Glendale finished on a 3-0 run, with Clara Georges evening the match at one game apiece with a kill.

Hoover raced to a 15-10 lead in the third set on a kill by Paneli Amirkhanian. A kill by Manaois knotted it at 19. Later in the set, Glendale took a 23-22 lead and closed it out with two straight aces from Nicolette Pirjanian.

“I thought winning the second and third sets seemed to help our confidence,” Manaois said. “We had to do a better job playing defensively and we were able to do that.

“Our defense has been on and off a lot.”

Hoover took a 5-1 lead in the fourth set. Glendale then went on a 12-2 run to take a 13-7 lead. Yoshioka had three kills in that stretch. The Tornados pulled to within 18-12, only to see the Nitros finish on a 7-0 run. Manaois had two kills in the run and Yoshioka ended the match with a kill.

Hoover Coach Gabby Gallardo said the Tornadoes have made some progress following the completion of the first half of league play.

“We’re trying to get better on defense,” said Hoover Coach Gabby Gallardo, who guided the Hoover boys’ team to a playoff appearance in the spring. “There’s always going to be room for improvement.

“When we make a mistake, we can’t let it affect us for too long, because then you find yourself having to catch up.”