Historic season ends for Glendale Adventist girls’ volleyball
BURBANK – A lengthy and historic playoff run came to a conclusion for the Glendale Adventist Academy girls’ volleyball team Saturday evening.
The top-seeded Cougars suffered their first defeat in eight playoff matches, 23-25, 25-12, 25-18, 25-14, to visiting second-seeded San Diego Maranatha Christian in the CIF State Division V Southern California Regional Championship at Providence High.
The defeat closed a wonderful season for Glendale Adventist (24-6). The squad picked up the school’s first CIF Southern Section crown via a 3-1 victory over Santa Clarita Christian in the Division IX title match and advanced deep into the state playoffs.
The victory vaulted CIF San Diego Section Division IV champion Maranatha Christian (33-1) into Friday’s state final.
“Maranatha is a great team and they didn’t let a ball drop tonight,” Glendale Adventist coach Gared Luquet said. “They served really tough, they can put the ball down and their outside hitters are great. We just couldn’t get any momentum in the second, third and fourth sets against them.”
The Eagles did an outstanding job of spreading Glendale Adventist’s defense all over the court with three key hitters, led by sophomore outside hitter Amy Buffini, who had a match-high 28 kills and four aces.
When Glendale keyed on Buffini, the Eagles turned to outside hitter Briana Young (15 kills) and middle blocker Jordan Ward (11 kills and four blocks).
Glendale Adventist countered with 18 kills and 16 digs from freshman Elyse Knipschild and 13 kills, 21 digs and two aces from senior Paige Singleton.
After a first-set victory, the Cougars struggled to keep up with the Eagles.
In the fourth set, Glendale Adventist closed to within 6-5 on an attacking error by Young.
On the next play, Young atoned for her error with a kill that kick-started a 6-1 run culminated on another Young kill that put the visitors ahead, 12-6.
Though the Cougars didn’t fold, they also didn’t close the gap to less than five at any point and eventually lost, 25-14.
“I know that we didn’t win, but honestly, being a senior, this season was everything we hoped for and more,” Glendale Adventist opposite Kristine Nicolas said. “We won the CIF championship and this was extra.”
Glendale Adventist showed some fight in the third set after trailing 19-9 and rallied to within 22-15 on ace from senior middle blocker Natalie Gregg.
The deficit, however, was just too large as Maranatha Christian held on for a 25-18 victory.
The contest changed in the second set as Maranatha Christian took control.
Glendale Adventist closed to within 9-6 on a kill from Knipschild, only to see the Eagles dominate with a 16-6 run that translated to an easy 13-point victory in the second set.
Most of the drama in Saturday’s contest came in Glendale Adventist’s lone victory, a 25-23 triumph in the first set.
The Eagles led, 22-21, but committed the final of seven service errors in the first set to tie the game and spur a 3-0 spurt from the Cougars, who went ahead, 24-22, on an ace from Knipschild.
Maranatha Christian pulled to within a point on a kill from Young and appeared to have knotted the score at 24 on a kill from Buffini, who tallied 11 kills in the first set.
However, a centerline violation was called on Buffini that negated the kill and gave Glendale Adventist the point and the victory.
“The playoffs were like a dream come true,” said Glendale Adventist junior setter Liana Salvador, who finished with 35 assists. “Winning CIF meant everything and I’m happy to have been here with my teammates.”
Libero Camille Pizarro, one of six seniors on Glendale Adventist, finished with 22 digs.
“There are no words to describe how grateful we are to be here and how hard we worked to get here,” Pizarro said. “We didn’t think this was possible for us. It’s all just amazing.”
