Flintridge Prep surrenders big runs in loss to Pasadena Poly
LA CAÑADA — The Flintridge Prep girls’ volleyball team had not played a match in a week when it took on Pasadena Poly Wednesday evening.
The lack of competition might have led to some rusty play by the Rebels in the Prep League contest.
Flintridge Prep gave up sizable runs in all three games against the visiting Panthers and couldn’t battle back from big deficits in a 25-10, 25-9, 25-9 loss.
“It was our first game in about a week and it showed,” Flintridge Prep coach Sean Beattie said. “It’s tough that when we come back we get a very good team right away.
“What it really came down to for us was our passing. Our passing, although I haven’t gone over the stats, I would say was at about 30 % today, and that isn’t good. I told the girls that I think that we allowed the fact that our passing wasn’t going well to affect everything else in the entire game.”
Pasadena Poly (12-2, 5-1 in league), ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division IV, used its serving and multiple offensive options to frustrate the Rebels (5-2, 2-2). The Panthers had 13 aces, with nine coming from sophomore Ella Mao.
Flintridge Prep received a team-high five kills from junior Courtney Johnson, while junior Chloe Chanren and sophomore Libby Penn added four kills each. Sophomore Ellen Chang had 18 digs and sophomore Ani Bernardi had 13 assists.
“We are a young team with no starting seniors,” Beattie said. “So they are still learning, but they are coming along.
“I think we played good for about the first 15 minutes in that first game, but then everything after that we had problems with.”
The Rebels took a 5-4 lead in the opening game on a kill by sophomore Kaitlyn Chen. Pasadena Poly then went on a 7-2 run to take a six-point lead, 12-6. Flintridge Prep could never seize any momentum thereafter, as the Panthers ended the stanza on a 9-1 run.
Flintridge Prep again took a brief advantage to start the second game, 2-0, following two Pasadena Poly errors. But the Panthers surged back, went on a 9-2 run and led, 9-4. That run swelled to 15-4 as Pasadena Poly went ahead 15-6 and again ended the game on a 9-1 clip.
“I think we just get hyped up at times and we tend to get caught up in those moments and we end up making mistake after mistake,” Johnson said. “That tends to drag us down a little. Sometimes it’s just hard to shake it off.”
Pasadena Poly jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the third game, aided by a 7-0 run. The Rebels were only able to whittle the advantage down to seven the rest of the way.
Senior Halston Harper paced the Panthers with eight kills.
Twitter: @jefftsports
