Palisades Surprises Poly in 5 Games

Alex Vallejo had 29 kills and 31 assists for Poly High, but the No. 2-seeded Parrots were upset by 10th-seeded Palisades, 15-6, 3-15, 11-15, 15-9, 15-12, in a City Championship boys’ volleyball quarterfinal Thursday night at Poly.

Ivan Cuevas added 27 kills and Miguel Ramos had 15 kills for the Parrots (14-1).

“Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes,” Poly Coach John Ford said. “Our setting was inconsistent and we let their big guy get on a roll.”

Outside hitter Ian Wolterstorff had a match-high 32 kills for the Dolphins (11-6), who rallied from a 2-0 deficit in games to beat Huntington Park in the first round.

Poly fell behind, 12-1, in the first game.

The Parrots opened a 10-1 lead en route to winning the second game, then surrendered the first three points of game three before reeling off a seven straight points to take 7-3 lead.

A windmill ace by Vallejo brought Poly to match point and the Parrots took the third game on a kill by Oscar Garcia.

Garcia, a setter, had 36 assists and Moises Castillo added 15 digs for Poly.

Game five was deadlocked at 8-8 before Palisades’ Fairai Richmond served four consecutive aces. Poly pulled to within 14-12 and fought off two match points before losing.

Setter Edward Grubb had 41 assists for the Dolphins, who beat Poly in the semifinals en route to the City Championship in 1998.

“This was a much stronger team than Huntington Park, but we came out much stronger tonight than we did in that match,” Palisades Coach Dave Suarez said. “Defensively this is the best we’ve played all year.”