La Cañada girls’ volleyball sweeps Glendale
LA CAÑADA —With a group of alert outside hitters, the La Cañada High girls’ volleyball team might be in line to contend for a Rio Hondo League title.
Senior Chloe Kerstein contributed 10 kills and freshman outside hitter Maya White added 11 on Tuesday to propel host La Cañada to a 25-12, 25-12, 25-15 nonleague win against Glendale.
“I think we have a lot of depth at outside hitter and they can definitely be a huge part of our offense,” said La Cañada coach Chris Sullivan, whose team began the season Monday with a 31-29, 25-19, 25-19 nonleague loss at Hart. “We have a lot of people we can move around because we are confident with their ability to adjust.
“With somebody like Chloe, she can provide leadership and be a model of consistency.”
La Cañada also received 22 assists from Alexandra Gates and 13 from Hailey Belcher. It got nine kills from Emily Weirick and eight from Claire Kevorkian.
Kerstein contributed seven kills in the first set to ignite the Spartans and frustrate the Nitros (0-1). Providing energy near the net, Kerstein had a kill down the middle to give the Spartans a 14-7 lead. She added a kill to make it 23-12. The Spartans finished the first set on an 8-1 run, capped by a kill by Kevorkian.
“I think we definitely played much better compared to the Hart game,” Kerstein said. “Everything seemed to connect and we got good efforts from everybody.
“I think we have a solid offense and a lot of skilled players on the outside. Glendale didn’t have a lot of blocks, so we were able to take control and go off on long scoring runs.”
Glendale jumped out to a 6-3 lead in the second set behind a pair of kills from Saku Yoshioka, who finished with a team-best 10 kills. The Spartans took a 14-9 lead on an ace from Gates and extended the advantage to 18-10 on a kill by Kerstein. La Cañada finished on a 6-1 run to take a 2-0 lead.
An ace by Glendale’s Clara Georges gave the Nitros a 6-5 lead in the third set. However, the Spartans went on a 14-3 run to take a 20-10 lead. An ace by Gates completed the surge. La Cañada wrapped up the victory with a kill by Belcher down the left side.
“I think one of the key things for us today was that we didn’t really have a lot of errors,” Sullivan said.
Glendale first-year coach Jeffrey Thai said the Nitros are striving for a little more consistency on offense.
“I think we are just about there, but we need to improve with our passing some more,” Thai said. “We’ll get back to fixing some things, but it’s a real good first test to see where we stand in playing a good team like La Cañada.
“La Cañada is a good matchup because it can help us prepare for teams in our league like Arcadia. We’ll see where we are at. Our goal is to get back to the playoffs. We feel like we have a good team and we can accomplish that.”
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
