Wilson Avenges Loss to Los Alamitos

The Long Beach Wilson girls’ volleyball team made up for lost time Saturday night. The visiting Bruins defeated Los Alamitos in a five-game Southern California semifinal match to get back on track for their ultimate goal of winning a state title.

The 15-7, 11-15, 13-15, 15-3, 15-7 victory also made up for a five-game loss to Los Alamitos (30-8) a week earlier in the Southern Section Division I-AA championship.

“I think we stayed more focused this time,” Wilson Coach Susan Pescar said. “When you lose to somebody, you want to come back and do your best.”

The Bruins (35-3) looked determined from the start, building an 11-1 lead before Emily Hendrickson finished the game by spiking an errant Los Alamitos pass.

Wilson lost its focus in the second and third games, letting a 6-0 lead get away in Game 2 and a 12-8 lead slip away in Game 3.

The Bruins came alive in the fourth game, scoring seven consecutive points to take an 11-2 lead. In the final game, Wilson reeled off five consecutive points in the rally-scoring format to take an insurmountable 11-4 lead.

Cynthia Barboza had 26 kills and seven blocks to lead the Bruins. Brett Quirarte contributed 23 kills for Wilson, including four in the fifth game.

Wilson will play Clovis Buchanan on Tuesday in the regional final.

Dan Arritt

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Los Angeles Marymount d. Flintridge Sacred Heart, 15-7, 15-1, 13-15, 16-14 -- The top-seeded Sailors had already beaten Sacred Heart in the Southern Section Division IV-AA championship eight days earlier, but Stesha Selsky made sure Marymount wasn’t going to rest on its laurels.

The junior had 28 kills, 10 digs and six aces for the host Sailors (28-4), who withstood furious rallies by the Tologs in the fourth and fifth games of the Southern California Division IV semifinal.

The Tologs (21-6) took their first lead of the match, 1-0, in the third game and extended it to 8-2 before Marymount battled back to take a 10-9 advantage. Flintridge Sacred Heart setter Jillian Davis, who was stymied by Marymount in the section final, recorded six kills in the fourth game to avoid a sweep.

The teams exchanged leads throughout the fourth game, but Marymount capitalized on four of Sacred Heart’s 15 service errors to open a 13-10 lead.

Coach Nancy Tinkham called a timeout so the Tologs could regroup. They scored four consecutive points for a 14-13 lead, but Selsky recorded two of the Sailors’ next three kills for the decisive margin.

Davis finished with 18 kills, including nine in the fifth game, and seven blocks and Katheryn Gorsh had 14 blocks for the Tologs.

Virginia Levanas had 21 kills and seven blocks and Jenny Dykstra had 27 assists for Marymount, which plays San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s, a 15-7, 15-7, 15-10 winner over San Diego Parker, in the regional final on Tuesday.

-- Mayar Zokaei