Kennedy Victory Over Westchester a Toon-Up for Semifinals

Just joshing around, Jeff Toon warmed up with a few left-handed hits before Kennedy High’s playoff volleyball match against Westchester.

A few minutes later he got serious.

Toon, a senior middle blocker, delivered 22 kills in 33 attempts, all of them right-handed, and Kennedy defeated the Comets, 15-2, 15-6, 15-10, in a City Section 4-A Division quarterfinal Thursday at Kennedy.

Toon set the tone early, connecting on five of six attempts in the first game, and third-seeded Kennedy (12-3) rolled against the sixth-seeded Comets (10-5).

The trick for Kennedy is to do the same thing Tuesday in a semifinal at second-seeded Taft. The Golden Cougars lost twice to Taft in Northwest Valley Conference play this season.

“Hopefully we can play like we did today,” said Toon, who has signed a letter of intent to play at Cal State Northridge. “This is the best match we’ve played in a while.”

Toon had help from Danny Brookshire, who had nine kills, and Jason Abel, who had eight kills and five blocks.

Westchester showed signs of life in the third game and was within 12-10 before the Golden Cougars awoke, eventually finishing the match on a kill by Toon, who had a .424 hitting percentage.

“I think we shellshocked them in the first game, but got a little sloppy in the second and third,” Kennedy Coach Mike Stanton said.

“If we play like we did in the first game, we’ll give Taft a match.”