Nusinov Hits Valley After Hiking Peak

Don’t tell volleyball player Carina Nusinov to take a hike.

She just might.

Nusinov, a junior outside hitter for Calabasas High, scaled Mt. Whitney last week, making it halfway up the 14,500-foot mountain before descending because of cold weather.

Nusinov, who missed the team’s match against St. Genevieve because of the climb, tackled easier peaks in the past, but Mt. Whitney was the highest she has attempted.

She began the trek at 5 a.m. and lugged a 25-pound backpack that contained a tent and two sleeping bags.

The original plan was to stay overnight, but when the mercury dropped to an unexpected 20 degrees, Nusinov headed down.

She fared pretty well for her first upper-echelon climb despite severe headaches because she failed to take the proper amount of aspirin, which thins the blood.

“I got really winded and light-headed and had to keep stopping as we went up,” said Nusinov, who went with two friends and her parents.

“The altitude kind of hit me hard.”

No wonder she was tired when Calabasas played Alemany last Thursday, two days after her hike.

“I felt like I couldn’t jump at all,” she said. “I was really slow to get to everything. I felt like I was a beginner again. I played pretty bad that game because of it.”

Her mother, Lari, an outdoor enthusiast who is competing in the St. George marathon this weekend in Utah, gave her daughter high climbing marks.

“It’s not just your leisurely hike,” Lari said. “You’re stepping over rocks and crossing logs on creeks. I was proud of her for making it that far.”

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The Mission League has been hit hard by two injuries.

Two players of great importance to their teams--Ashley Julian of Harvard-Westlake and Sasha Hernandez of Alemany--are out for the better part, if not all, of league play.

Julian is out four to six weeks because of a hairline fracture in her right wrist, but the Wolverines are still the Mission League favorite.

Setter Leslie Meller played well in her debut Tuesday against Fountain Valley--”She was on fire,” Coach Jess Quiroz said--and Harvard-Westlake, which has won the Southern Section Division III-A championship two of the last three seasons, has plenty of power.

“Anne Jakle is still there,” Quiroz said, referring to his senior outside hitter. “I’m not really worried at this point.”

A playoff spot is no longer a shoo-in for Alemany because Hernandez, an outside hitter, is out for the season with a torn knee ligament.

Hernandez hoped to continue playing for the Indians as a back-row specialist, but a comeback was aborted when she failed to get a doctor’s clearance.

“It bummed me out,” Hernandez said.

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Smiley or Lefty?

It’s a question Sylmar Coach Bob Thomson enjoys every day at practice.

Barbara Smiley and Stephanie Cisneros are sophomore setters who are starting for the Spartans in a season of firsts.

The Spartans are running the 6-2 offense, which utilizes both setters’ skills, for the first time.

They are using a left-handed setter, Cisneros, for the first time, and are playing their first season in a new gym after playing last year in a dilapidated auditorium.

Smiley has the setting genes. Her sister, Sandra, was City Section 3-A Division player of the year in 1996.

Cisneros, at 5 feet 8, is four inches taller than Smiley.

Either way, Thomson, who also has Kassy Jimenez, one of the best middle blockers in the City, can’t lose.

“If we can develop [both setters] this year, we’ll be set for the next couple years,” Thomson said.

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Dispatches:

* Cheryl Sasadeusz, a former middle blocker at Alemany who starts for Manhattan College as a freshman, was an all-tournament selection at the St. John’s tournament last week.

* Buckley won a game against Windward for the first time and defeated Holy Martyrs for only the second time in the seven-year history of the Liberty League. The Griffins lost in four to Windward, but Coach Greg Armbrister was pleased. “I want to at least get a game from the big three [Viewpoint, Providence and Windward] and maybe knock one of them off,” he said.

* Ventura must forfeit a Channel League victory over Dos Pueblos because of an academically ineligible player.

* In the state polls, Harvard-Westlake slipped four spots to No. 7 in Division III while Calabasas debuted in the same division at No. 9. In Division I, Royal remained at No. 8. Flintridge Sacred Heart remained at No. 3 in Division IV.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Top 10

Rankings of regional girls’ volleyball teams

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Harvard-Westlake (Mission) 2 2 Royal (Marmonte) 3 3 Calabasas (Frontier) 4 4 Flintridge Scrd Hrt (Mission) 5 6 La Reina (Tri-Valley) 6 5 Westlake (Marmonte) 7 8 Village Christian (Alpha) 8 7 Buena (Channel) 9 10 Notre Dame (Mission) 10 NR Sylmar (Valley Pac-8)

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