La Cañada girls’ volleyball loses first-place showdown to South Pasadena

LA CAÑADA — When La Cañada High’s girls’ volleyball team lost to South Pasadena on Oct. 8, 2013, it ended a 69-match Rio Hondo winning streak for the Spartans inclusive of a string of six consecutive undefeated seasons in league play.

Since then, South Pasadena has not lost in league play, including winning the last two Rio Hondo titles.

Although the host Spartans dug hard against the Tigers on Tuesday afternoon in the Hotchkin Family Gymnasium, the result mirrored more recent history, as South Pasadena defeated La Cañada 25-17, 25-11, 23-25, 25-18 to emerge solely in first place of the Rio Hondo League.

PHOTOS: Spartans fall to South Pasadena

“We are a young team and we’re going to have some growing pains,” La Cañada Coach Chris Sullivan said. “South Pasadena, hats off to them, they’ve got a great team over there. We kind of came off with a little slow start.”

Facing the possibility of a sweep in game three, La Cañada (6-9, 3-1) fought back late to keep the match alive. After trailing South Pasadena (11-2, 4-0) the whole game up to that point, the Spartans tied it up at 21-21 after an ace by La Cañada’s Doyeon Kim. The senior’s next serve was long, but the visitors tied it up again and then took their first lead of the game on consecutive kills from the outside by Spartan Megan Reilly.

The Tigers then tied it at 23 with an outside kill of their own, but Reilly came right back with another kill from the outside and, when the Tigers were called for a double touch, La Cañada came out victorious.

“After losing those first two games we were like, we’ve really got to get down and we need to make sure we do everything we can and use all our energy,” Reilly said. “We were a little bit timid and not communicating until that third set.”

The Spartans kept up the fight in the fourth game, but never led. La Cañada did get as close as 18-17 following a kill by Spartan Sophia Bang, but the Tigers, ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division II-AA, finished strong to win the final game by seven and win their fifth straight match against their Rio Hondo League rivals.

“We were able to kind of bounce back a bit in that third set,” Sullivan, in his first year, said. “We were there in the fourth and then our youth sometimes shows through.”

Reilly, a senior who came through with the majority of big points for the hosts throughout, led the way for La Cañada with 16 kills to go along with seven digs. Sophomore Chloe Kerstein contributed eight kills and Bang, also a sophomore, had seven. Senior Phebe Simmons had four kills and a team-high four blocks.

On defense, with South Pasadena sporting a plethora of big hitters, the Spartans stayed busy. La Cañada setter Maureen Rodick, who recorded 30 assists, had a team-high 18 digs. Joining her in double figures were Julia Harbolt and Elizabeth Gannon, who both had 12 digs.

“As the [match] was going on, we made some adjustments with our block and our defense was able to set up in a better position to dig that ball,” Sullivan said. “It is tough; they have a lot of big hitters.”

South Pasadena got a match-high 18 kills from junior Molly Feldmeth and 13 kills from senior Taleen Mitchel, who both presented problems for the Spartans throughout. Junior Kate Kutzer chipped in with 13 kills and sophomore Madison Saito had six.

“I think we came in here a little overconfident,” South Pasadena Coach Shari Iwatani said. “Bottom line is they surprised us. We thought we were going to get away with kind of playing haphazardly, as I’d call it. [La Cañada] is real scrappy, filled with [defensive specialists], great defense. We definitely took them for granted.”

Game one saw both teams come out playing solid defense, but the Tigers offense was the crisper of the two at the start. The final margin of eight was the largest lead for either team in the opening game.

Game two was controlled by South Pasadena throughout. The Tigers had a late 8-0 run to create a game-point that La Cañada fought off with a kill from Reilly, but Saito finished the game with an outside kill off two La Cañada blockers.

The teams meet again Oct. 29 on South Pasadena’s home floor.

“We’ve just got to keep focused, grind it out,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got Monrovia [next]. We’re 3-1 and can still make things happen.”