Girls’ Volleyball: Van Nuys rolling

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Senior Yesenia Benitez, the best player on the Van Nuys girls’ volleyball team, is academically ineligible to play, but the Wolves appear to be doing just fine with the players they have.

Van Nuys (7-1, 5-0), a City Section quarterfinalist last season, will be trying to extend a seven-match winning streak in a key Sunset Six League match against visitng Verdugo Hills (4-4, 3-2) tonight\.

Making the grade for the Wolves in their last match was sophomore outside hitter Quinn Walker, who came off the bench to record 12 kills in a 15-19, 15-10, 25-22 victory over Grant, which won the Van Nuys tournament last season.

Van Nuys won the 20-team event this season, beating Bell, 29-27, after rallying from a 24-20 deficit in the one-game final match two weeks ago.

Their ability to come back has served the Wolves well. They were down, 24-22, in the fourth game of an eventual five-game victory over Verdugo Hills in the teams’ first league meeting.

‘I think they just take care of business and they know how to close out games,’ Coach David Chae said. ‘We just kind of do what we do.’

Keys to the Wolves’ success include the team’s lone senior, outside hitter Min Oh, as well as 5-10 middle blockers Lynsey Taub, a junior, and Alyssa Woodberry, a sophomore.

Their play has made up for the absence of Benitez, the team’s best passer last season, and has been a pleasant surprise for Chae since the Wolves dropped their season opener in a sweep by Granada Hills.

‘I didn’t think we were going to do too well,’ he said. ‘This is totally unexpected, but everything worked out. I haven’t been this excited about a team for a while.’

- Lauren Peterson