Torrey Pines Defeats Sunny Hills, to Advance

Gone are the days when Torrey Pines wins volleyball games in time to go home and catch the 9 o’clock movie of the night.

During their regular season, the Falcons made it a practice to whiz through matches. But with the end of San Diego Section play comes the beginning of regional state play . . . and no easy opponents.

“When you get to this level,” Torrey Pines Coach Jim Harrah said, “there are no three-game matches. Most of them are going to go four or five.”

Third-seeded Torrey Pines settled for a two-hour, 15-8, 14-16, 15-8, 15-10 victory over Fullerton Sunny Hills in the first round of the Southern California Division II girls’ volleyball playoffs Tuesday night in Del Mar.

But not without a temporary but gutsy comeback by Sunny Hills, the runner-up to top-seeded La Habra in the Freeway League of the Southern Section.

The Falcons’ big block at the net and constant pounding the ball down the middle eventually wore down the Lancers. Especially effective was Torrey Pines’ Kami Schmedding, who had most of her 23 kills from the middle.

“We didn’t know that much about (Torrey Pines),” Sunny Hills Coach Ron Kasser said, “but we knew they’d run the middle with their size.”

The only real threat from the Lancers came in the second game, with Torrey Pines leading 14-9. Torrey Pines thought it had won the game, but a back row attack violation gave the ball back to Sunny Hills, who held off six game points and came back and won the game, 16-14.

Several times throughout the match, Torrey Pines (27-5) would take substantial leads only to let Sunny Hills get back into the games before the Falcons would regroup and close it out.

“We were aggressive when we needed to be,” Harrah said. “After (Sunny Hills’) huge comeback in the second game, that’s when we backed off.

Schmedding said it is a problem they are addressing.

“Somehow we get a little tentative, but we’re working on that,” she said. “I still think we’ll do well in a five-game match.” The Falcons has yet to be stretched to five games this season.