Glendale High girls’ volleyball passes final test versus Monrovia before league

GLENDALE — Had the Glendale High girls’ volleyball team hoped for a challenge in its final nonleague match before the commencement of Pacific League action, then Monrovia High certainly fit the bill.

The Nitros fought off a feisty Wildcats team and the sweltering heat from a gym lacking air conditioning to defeat Monrovia, 22-25, 26-24, 25-19, 15-25, 15-11 on Tuesday afternoon.

“Monrovia beat us three times during the summer and we really wanted to get them once,” Glendale Coach Taase Mose said. “They’re a very good team, but we proved that we can be very good team and now we’re going to head into [the league opener versus] Crescenta Valley with some good momentum.”

PHOTOS: Glendale High girls’ volleyball defeat Monrovia

With temperatures around 100 degrees outside and only a giant ceiling turbine providing circulation, fatigue began to set in for both the Nitros (3-1) and Wildcats (4-3) heading into the fifth game.

Glendale scored three straight points, the final coming on a tip from Sevana Stepanian (14 kills and two aces), to give the home team an 11-6 advantage.

It was at that point that Wildcats Coach Wayne Teng did something unorthodox by his standards in calling a timeout, the first one Monrovia took the entire match.

“I just saw that the girls were tired and needed a break and some water,” Teng said. “I just wanted to keep their energy up.”

The break re-energized the Wildcats, who ran off six straight points in pulling even at 11.

Yet, Monrovia’s rally died when Glendale senior Ivanna Gamboa countered with a blistering kill to put the Nitros up again, 12-11.

“It’s about conditioning, but also not letting the heat get to you,” said Gamboa, who totaled 13 kills, two blocks and an ace. “I just focused on the game.”

Gamboa, one of three senior captains, carried her team over the final hurdle in following with two kills, including the match-winning spike through the block attempt of Monrovia senior Jenna Harper, which capped the 1-hour-and-59-minute contest.

“You can blame the heat, but it wasn’t that,” Teng said. “Give credit to Glendale. Yes, we saw them three times during the summer, but it was never a full team. We played well, but they just played a little better, so I can’t be disappointed.”

Perhaps the most important juncture of the game prior to the conclusion came toward the tail end of the second game.

Monrovia already opened with a 25-22 victory in the first game and was only one point away from an even more dominant effort in the second game.

The Wildcats led, 23-15, after a kill from freshman Caroline Mulvihill (nine kills and two aces) and seemed destined to put away the Nitros.

Even though Glendale countered with four straight points, Monrovia reached game point, 24-19, on a service error.

Yet, the Nitros rallied for an impressive and improbable 7-0 run that culminated on a kill from senior Grace Tappin that clinched a come-from-behind 26-24 victory.

“We just didn’t quit,” said Tappin, who paced her team with 18 kills, three blocks and an ace. “We kept coming back. We just really wanted to beat Monrovia. After losing to them in the summer three times, we just had to beat them once.”

The Nitros then appeared to snatch momentum away from the Wildcats in winning the third game, 25-19, before hitting a wall in the fourth game.

Glendale was flat and listless and it showed as the Nitros fell behind, 16-6, en route to a 25-15 defeat that forced a winner-take-all fifth game.

Monrovia had a quite a few solid efforts turned in from sophomore Angie Castandea (12 kills), Madison Mayoralgo (10 kills) and Riley Carius (three blocks).

“I think we really needed this win,” Mose said. “This is something to build on.”