Volleyball : West Leads Parker to Third Title in a Row

It wasn’t aesthetically perfect--not even close--but to the Francis Parker High School girls’ volleyball team, Saturday’s 3-games-to-1 victory over Linden for its third consecutive Division III state title was beautiful nonetheless.

Francis Parker (20-4) defeated Linden of the Sac-Joaquin Section, 11-15, 15-9, 15-13, 15-7, at Cal State Fullerton. Standout middle blocker Heidi West shook off a slow start to record 20 kills and a championship-match record 10 aces.

“I don’t know how I could feel better,” said West, a 4-year starter. “This is a perfect way to end my senior year.”

It didn’t start out that way for West or Parker. In the first game, Linden (27-2) increased a 7-6 lead to 14-6 as Parker made 9 hitting errors, 5 by West.

“I don’t think I was really all together,” West said. “I wanted everything to go right, and that was unrealistic.”

She settled down in Game 2 and served 7 points, 4 aces, as Parker went from 5-5 to a 12-5 lead to the 15-9 victory.

“Toward the end of the first game, we really picked it up and started playing well,” said hitter Tina Harris (15 kills and 4 blocks). “The momentum had shifted to our side.”

In Game 3, which turned out to be the match’s crucial game, Francis Parker took a 3-0 lead before momentum shifted back to Linden. It went on a 9-1 run to take a 9-4 lead and nearly made it 10-4, but West dived to save a ball under the net. That not only woke up Francis Parker but sparked it on a 7-0 run for an 11-9 lead.

With the score tied, 13-13, Linden’s Jill Kendall served long. That was it for Linden, as West served and Harris got a block and a kill.

“We missed the key serve in that third game,” Linden Coach Bill Rood said. “That gave it right back to them.”

In Game 4, Parker scored 10 of 12 points after a 5-5 tie as West served 3 aces.

“We didn’t make the adjustments we should have made,” Rood said. “We broke down in areas we didn’t expect to break down, in serving and receiving.”

Linden made 16 receiving errors and 8 service errors and hit just .073. Francis Parker didn’t play much cleaner, making a championship-match record 25 hitting errors and hitting .153.

Although this was the third state title for Francis Parker, it was the first for Coach Sabine Stork, who took over this year when John Cook became an assistant at Nebraska.

“I totally believe you win with talent,” Stork said. “Somebody else could have walked in there and won (as coach). John trained these girls, and I just kept them improving.”

Linden, in only its second appearance in the state playoffs, was led by junior Robynn Schmitt’s 10 kills.