La Cañada boys’ volleyball rallies, notches another CIF first-round win
La Canada High’s boys’ volleyball team rebounded to win its CIF Southern Section Division II first-round match in four games on Tuesday.
LA CAÑADA — Two habits were at play for the La Cañada High boys’ volleyball team during Tuesday afternoon’s first round of the CIF Southern Section Division II playoffs.
For a second straight year, the Spartans stumbled out of the gate in the first round and dropped their opening set.
Fortunately for La Cañada, history remained on its side as the Spartans rallied to defeat visiting West Torrance, 23-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-20, to notch a fourth consecutive playoff first-round victory.
With the triumph, the Rio Hondo League co-champion 10th-ranked Spartans improved to 18-2 and will host No. 8 Capistrano Valley (16-12) in Thursday’s second round at 7 p.m.
The Sea View League champion Cougars punched their ticket with a 3-0 win against Corona Centennial on Tuesday.
“It’s just good to get past the first round,” La Cañada senior outside hitter Connor Walbrecht said. “It’s always very tedious because you don’t want to mess up. At the same time, you want to make sure you get the win.
“West Torrance was a lot better team than we expected and we came out and underestimated them. Eventually, we got back into our groove and we were able to win the game.”
Walbrecht led all players with 26 kills, while senior outside hitter Mel Schroeder added 14 kills, senior middle Blake Cornell contributed 10 kills, two blocks and two aces and senior Titan Burl chipped in five kills for La Cañada.
After dropping the second and third games, Pioneer League third-place finisher West Torrance (14-17) made a push in the fourth set and took a 10-6 lead after a block from Noah Carroll, who tallied four of his team’s 12 blocks for the contest.
Yet, the Spartans rallied behind three kills from Walbrecht for a 6-0 run that put the home team ahead, 12-10.
Though La Cañada committed a service error on its next possession, the Spartans never allowed the Warriors to pull even.
West Torrance was within 17-15 before a 5-1 run fueled by a pair of kills from Burl put La Cañada up, 21-16.
Coleman Cornell had the honor of closing out the victory with a front-court kill that secured a 25-20 win and a 3-1 triumph.
“It was nice to play in front of the biggest crowd we ever had,” Schroeder said. “I think they gave us energy in the later games, but maybe made us nervous earlier on.”
La Cañada appeared on its way to victory in the first set as a kill from Walbrecht gave the Spartans a 23-21 advantage.
The kill was followed by a service error and an improbable 4-0 from the Warriors, who stole a 25-23 first-set victory on a kill from senior Matt Tsai, who led his side with 15 kills.
“They have to know that that team is capable of taking a set away from them,” La Cañada Coach Otto Lacayo said. “That’s good to understand that. You have to take that and plug away in the next game.
“It’s more like telling these guys to focus play by play and point by point.”
The Spartans opened on fire in both the second and third sets.
La Cañada began the second game with a 10-0 run capped on a kill from Coleman Cornell. Though the Warriors pulled to within 21-17, Blake Cornell clinched the 25-20 victory with a vicious kill.
In the third set, the Spartans led, 10-1, and never allowed West Torrance to climb any closer than eight points before Walbrecht delivered the final kill for a 25-14 win.
“I feel confident [going forward] and I think we need to play like we did in the later sets if we’re going to try to win this thing,” Walbrecht said.
