Southern Section Volleyball Playoffs : La Canada’s Maiden Voyage Begins With a 4-Game Win

La Canada and Royal entered uncharted territories Tuesday night. The teams, each in their first year of interscholastic competition, met in a 3-A Division wild-card playoff match at La Canada.

La Canada, for now, still has a perfect playoff record after defeating the Highlanders, 15-11, 6-15, 16-14, 15-5. The Spartans travel to Harvard on Thursday.

Clark Ward led La Canada (10-8), which finished third in the Golden League, with 10 kills and setter Garrett Kelley added 32 assists. But the biggest contribution came from 6-4 middle blocker Chris Mehnert, who had five solo blocks and nine spikes.

“He was fantastic. We wouldn’t have won without him,” La Canada Coach Brad Miller said of Mehnert.

Craig Parker had 16 kills for Royal (14-3).

Chaminade d. Murphy, 15-9, 15-12, 13-15, 15-11--Chris Bruckner had 14 kills and Bill Cheesman added 12 as the Eagles struggled to a 3-A Division wild-card victory at Chaminade.

“We played horribly,” Chaminade Coach Marvin Hall said. “We were a better team, we just didn’t play like it.”

Chaminade travels to San Gabriel on Thursday.

Torrance d. Crespi, 13-15, 11-15, 15-12, 16-14, 15-11--The Tartars rallied from a two-game deficit to win a 4-A Division wild-card playoff at Crespi that lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Ken Lynch had 25 kills, Chris McGee had 15 and Steve Lepire added 14 for Crespi (16-3), which finished second in the Del Rey League.

Rolling Hills d. Alemany, 15-3, 15-2, 15-11--The visiting Indians lost in the 4-A Division wild-card match. Alemany finished with a record of 11-10.