Royal Outlasts Thousand Oaks in Volleyball

After 2 hours 45 minutes of play Thursday night, the Royal High girls’ volleyball team went to one familiar name and one new one to win a battle for first place in the Marmonte League. The Highlanders beat host Thousand Oaks, 8-15, 15-8, 15-8, 10-15, 15-13.

Standout middle blocker Jennifer Hamilton bashed a career-high 28th kill on match point as Royal (12-2, 10-2 in league play) broke a first-place tie with Thousand Oaks. And Tracy Nelson came off the bench to spark Royal after the Highlanders lost the first game. Her dramatic serving in the final moments rallied Royal from a 13-10 fifth-game deficit to a stunning win.

“We believed we could do it,” Hamilton said, “and we just went out and did it. That’s why we’ve been working so hard in practice.”

Thousand Oaks (10-7, 9-3) had crushed a then-undefeated Royal in three consecutive games Oct. 8 in the Highlanders’ gym. And the Lancers looked like they were gearing up to do the same in the early moments of Thursday’s match.

The Lancers, paced by strong defense, good serving and some poor Royal passing, raced to a 10-1 lead in game one. But it took Thousand Oaks four game points to close out the Highlanders, enabling Royal to develop some confidence.

Nelson’s appearance as a server and back-row specialist seemed to give the Highlanders a needed boost and the hitting combination of Hamilton and setter Tracey Tahy keyed the attack as Royal took a 7-2 lead in game two and cruised.

The third game was almost a replay of the second as Royal held off a tenacious Thousand Oaks early and eventually built a 10-1 advantage. Outside hitter Stacey Kaufmann added to the attack with some strong spiking and Royal went ahead two games to one.

Game four seesawed back and forth and the score was tied three times before Kaili Kimura ran off a string of seven points to give the Lancers a 14-10 lead. A long spike by Royal’s Jill Enright eventually gave Thousand Oaks the game.

The fifth game was every bit as intense as Thousand Oaks and Royal swapped leads five times before the Lancers rolled ahead, 13-9, on four consecutive points from Gretchen Gulbranson’s serve.

But the Lancers waited one rotation too long to close out the match, and when Nelson went to the service line and Hamilton got back in the front row, it spelled trouble for Thousand Oaks.

A stuff block by Tahy and a kill from Hamilton made the score 12-12. Two aces by Nelson pushed Royal to match point. Hamilton’s kill then ended the marathon.