Glendale Adventist Academy girls’ volleyball falls in three to Buckley

GLENDALE — There’s a minimum amount of experience across the board for the Glendale Adventist Academy girls’ volleyball team.

To be exact, there are five freshmen on the team who are in the process of learning what the realities are of competing at the varsity level. Though inexperience will show at times, there are no signs of discouragement.

Host Glendale Adventist cut its teeth some more when it met Buckley in a Liberty League match Wednesday.

The Cougars received a team-high seven kills from Natalie Gregg in a 25-19, 25-14, 25-15 defeat against the Griffins, who are ranked third in CIF Southern Section Division V-AA.

“It’s just more about learning how to make the adjustments and trying to get better each game,” Gregg said. “We’ve been able to come out and play aggressive, but we need to continue to talk more [on the court].

“It’s comforting to know that we are in the same boat. We will continue to get better.”

Glendale Adventist dropped to 4-5, 2-2 in league. Buckley improved to 6-4, 4-0.

The Cougars stayed close throughout most of the first two games, but couldn’t overcome Buckley’s experience.

Glendale Adventist Coach Gared Luquet said the Cougars have shown signs of improvement during the first half of the season.

“We have been more of a defensive-minded team,” Luquet said. “In order for us to win, we need the other teams to make most of the mistakes.

“We are trying to keep our intensity level up and keep fighting. We had a good start to the season. We teach the fundamentals and try to get repetitions to help us that much more.”

In the first game, Buckley built a 21-12 lead before Glendale Adventist Academy closed to within 21-16. The Griffins then finished up on a 4-3 run, capped by a kill by Clemmie Callaway.

An ace by Kristine Nicholas brought Glendale Adventist to within 16-13 in the second game. But Buckley closed out the game with a 9-1 spurt.

Buckley jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the third game. A kill by Nicholas pulled the Cougars to within 17-10. The Cougars could get no closer than 20-14.

“Buckley just had too many hitters coming from all different directions,” Luquet said. “They also served us tough.”