Top-seeded Poly, Sylmar Advance to 3-A Semifinals

Top-seeded Poly and second-seeded Sylmar both won City Section 3-A Division quarterfinal matches in three-game sweeps, but it wasn’t as easy as 1-2-3 for either team.

Sylmar (12-3), the defending 3-A champion, withstood comeback attempts in each game to record a 15-12, 16-14, 15-10 victory over Eagle Rock in the first match of a girls’ volleyball doubleheader Thursday night at Poly High.

Poly (13-2) followed suit and eventually rolled to a 15-10, 15-9, 15-6 victory over Marshall, but the Parrots had to overcome several early deficits and break four ties in the first game before cruising the rest of the way.

Sylmar, which followed a pair of undersized outside hitters on the road to last year’s title, is now getting solid play from middle blockers Kassy Jimenez and Alicia Ramos.

Jimenez, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, is the tallest player on the team, and she also stood tallest at key points against Eagle Rock (8-7).

She finished with 11 kills and stopped the Eagles whenever they staged a rally.

Jimenez had seven of her kills, along with one block in the critical second game, when she also served for five consecutive points to rally the Spartans from an 11-5 deficit to within 11-10.

The Spartans broke ties of 13-13 and 14-14 after that and won the game when Jimenez blocked a hitting attempt by Ester Kim.

“I was like, ‘OK, we need this,’ ” Jimenez said. “But honestly, I can’t take all the credit for something that my team built for me. They passed well and set well, and it made things easier for me.”

Ramos finished with eight kills and outside hitter Nancy Ariza, the first freshman ever to start for Sylmar, had seven kills.

The Spartans led throughout the third game but had to hold off another late rally.

Poly had an easier time, only having to beat back the Barristers (9-6) in the first game, which was tied four times before the Parrots closed out with the last five points.

“I felt pretty confident once we got going,” Poly Coach Jimmy Ikeda said.

Outside hitter Gaby Gallardo finished with 14 kills for Poly and Youssra Marjoua had four blocks.