Girls’ V-ball: Royal, Thousand Oaks headed for a showdown
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With its five-set victory Tuesday over Moorpark, the Royal girls’ volleyball team remains undefeated heading into its showdown with two-time defending Marmonte League champion Thousand Oaks on Thursday. Even though both teams are unranked in the Southern Section’s divisional coaches’ poll, if Royal can pull off this one, it could prove it’s a contender for the league title.
Of course, even if the Highlanders perform well on Thursday, they will have to wait until Oct. 9 to play a talented Westlake squad, which looks poised to grab second place. However, by just playing competitively against the Lancers, Royal will definitely establish itself as playoff material after last year’s fifth-place finish.
Royal has the talent necessary to be competitive. Through three league games, senior outside hitter Una Siljegovic, whose sister, Nena, was a setter at USC, has recorded 39 kills, and sophomore outside hitter Kathleen Wright had 17 kills and 13 digs in the victory over Moorpark. Along with Kayla Ingraham spearheading a strong blocking effort, the three give Royal a chance to compete with the Lancers this season.
Nevertheless, I still think Thousand Oaks has got to be considered the favorite for the league title. Hannah Clancy is the league’s best setter and the Lancers have a bunch of lethal spikers, including Maile Hetherington, who had 10 kills in a win over Simi Valley on Thursday.
The league title might be great, but if Thousand Oaks wants to get on the local volleyball radar map, it needs to advance further in this year’s divisional playoffs. Last year’s second-round loss to Redondo just wasn’t good enough.
- Austin Knoblauch
