Russell Helps Deliver Hart-Breaker for Royal

Teresa Russell set a lofty goal for herself as she thumbed through Volleyball magazine before Royal High’s volleyball match against Hart.

“I want to be on the cover of a magazine just like this,” said Russell, who delivered 11 kills and six blocks to help the Highlanders defeat Hart, 15-6, 15-1, 15-6, in a Southern Section Division I-A second-round match at Hart.

Russell, a 6-foot-1 junior, was dominant in the first two games with nine kills and all six of her blocks as the second-seeded Highlanders (16-2) never trailed.

She might have been overshadowed this season by teammates Sherisa Livingston and Courtney Guerra, but Russell was the covergirl against the Indians.

“I knew she was capable of it, she just needed the right circumstances,” Royal Coach Bob Ferguson said. “She got them tonight.”

The Highlanders, who play Buena in a quarterfinal match Saturday night at a site to be determined, also received 11 kills from Guerra, nine from Jenny Myszkowski and seven from Livingston.

Royal survived six service errors to win the first game.

Hart barely survived the second game as Royal surged to a 7-0 lead with the help of two kills and a block by Livingston. Royal’s defense at the net was sterling, including three blocks by Russell, as Hart (13-5) had one kill and seven hitting errors.

“I wanted to fire our team up, so I went all out” Russell said.

Said Ferguson: “We were unstoppable that game.”

The highlight of Hart’s season may have come Tuesday night when the Indians won their first playoff match in school history.

“I’m proud of the whole season, but we just weren’t racking them up tonight,” first-year Coach Becky Martin said.

Instead, Russell was.