Lancers Win Showdown With Royal

As the Thousand Oaks High girls’ volleyball team broke from its huddle before the third game of Tuesday night’s Marmonte League showdown at Royal, the players shook with emotion.

Were the Lancers nervous because they trailed, two games to none? No, actually, they were feeling a bit giggly.

“We went out (onto the court) laughing,” outside hitter Aimee Stone said. “We do so much better when we’re having fun.”

Laughter turned out to be the Lancers’ best medicine. Thousand Oaks, ranked fifth in the Southern Section 5-A Division, took the next three games to win the match, 15-17, 8-15, 15-9, 15-2, 15-11.

Royal, ranked 10th in the 5-A Division, took a 7-1 lead in the fifth game before Thousand Oaks (14-1, 11-0 in league play) made its second serve.

The Highlanders (11-2, 9-2) served with an 11-9 lead, but Erikka Gulbranson’s spike forced a sideout.

Gulbranson sandwiched two of her game-high five aces around a Cindy McKinnon kill to give Thousand Oaks a 12-11 lead. A Royal error and two more McKinnon kills gave Thousand Oaks the match.

Kaili Kimura and Gulbranson each had 17 kills and Stone added 16 for Thousand Oaks. Royal’s Wende Brown had a match-high 20 kills.