Poised Grant Sweeps

Fear was a strong motivator for Grant High on Thursday night.

The top-seeded Lancers admitted they were afraid to face eighth-seeded Palisades in a City Championship quarterfinal at Grant.

But Grant certainly didn’t play scared, sweeping the Dolphins, 15-7, 15-7, 15-11.

“We weren’t as confident going in as we were against Sylmar,” said senior middle blocker Mike Charleston, who led the Lancers (15-0) with 23 kills. “All we knew was that they had a tall outside hitter going to UCLA who was supposedly really good.”

Palisades’ top gun, 6-foot-7 senior Ian Wolterstorff, was blocked consistently and finished with a season-low nine kills.

“We try not to take anything for granted,” Grant Coach Howard Cahn said. “We respected them and that’s why we played better. This is the best we’ve played since we beat Taft [on March 16].”

Charleston, who has committed to Cal State Northridge, had 10 kills in the first game and ended the second game with a service point and a block.

After Palisades middle blocker Navid Askari was given a red card and ejected for arguing with the referee, the Dolphins (10-5) scored five consecutive points in the third game to take their only lead of the match, 6-5.

Grant answered with a 6-0 run.

“They were just there when I didn’t see them,” Wolterstorff said. “We got frustrated and we just couldn’t get ourselves together.”

Setter Nino Loquellano had 31 assists and Atley Kasky had five kills and eight digs for Grant, which plays Monroe in a semifinal Tuesday at Grant.