Moorpark Defeats La Reina in Key Volleyball Match

Once again, the Moorpark High girls’ volleyball team showed it has the tenacity of an alley cat by outdueling host La Reina, 15-12, 15-4, 17-15, in a first-place showdown Thursday between two Tri-Valley League powers.

Trailing in both the first and third games, the Musketeers (10-0 overall, 4-0 in league play and ranked third in the Southern Section 2-A Division) dug into their seemingly endless source of confidence to pull out a win.

“When we played La Reina at the San Luis Obispo tournament, they had us down, 14-7, and we came back to win, so we had the confidence that we could do it again,” said Moorpark outside hitter Kristie Evans, who led the Musketeers with 20 kills, 10 in the third game.

That confidence displayed itself when Moorpark fell behind, 11-7, and appeared to be in trouble of losing game one. But the Musketeers fought back to tie as Nicole Funfar rammed down a pair of kills and then ripped off three consecutive service points, one on an ace, to give Moorpark a 12-11 lead.

A pair of hitting errors by La Reina (8-2, 3-1, and ranked No. 4 in the 2-A) made it 14-12 and Courtney Forman gave Moorpark the game with an ace.

“The first game determined the match,” Moorpark Coach James Parks said. “It set the tone. I think we had more weapons than they did. We have five different girls we can go to on offense.”

Playing off the confidence of its first-game comeback and some solid hitting by Evans and junior middle blocker Jessica Donalson, Moorpark spurted ahead, 12-2, on the way to winning the second game, 15-4.

There was nothing easy about the third game, however. Unhappy with the play of some of his starters, La Reina Coach Stan Hirsch went to the bench, and reserves Shane Anderson, Erin Mooney and Kristen Koch sparked the Regents to a 6-0 advantage. Moorpark took an 8-7 lead behind five kills by Evans, but a pair of spikes from Tara Deukmedjian and an ace by Shannon Mahan put the Regents back on top, 10-8.

La Reina eventually moved ahead, 14-11, and served for the game five times, but Moorpark held firm on each game point and eventually took a 15-14 lead.

La Reina saved one game point on a dink by Koch and tied the score, 15-15, on Mooney’s overset kill, but a dink by Moorpark’s Tara Thomas and a hit into the net by Deukmedjian gave the Musketeers the match.