Laguna Beach girls’ volleyball earns senior night win over Pacifica Christian
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The start time of the Laguna Beach girls’ volleyball match was delayed by nearly an hour on Thursday, a senior night ceremony preceding warmups leading into the evening’s game against visiting Pacifica Christian.
Laguna Beach still had business to attend to, and it was a relief to Breakers coach Sinan Tanik when his team rode the emotional wave generated by the ceremony to a fast start in a 25-9, 25-10, 16-25, 25-13 win following the pregame festivities.
“I’ll be honest with you, I was kind of worried,” Tanik said after watching his seniors successfully compartmentalize following the ceremony. “The girls started getting emotional, and they were crying, and they were laughing, too. They were joking around.
“I told them the same thing after the game. Hats off to them to kind of push that aside, and not even push that aside, but kind of transform it into energy and drive in the game, knowing that, ‘OK, this is senior night. We got to perform.’ Everyone was sharper than we played before, so that was a huge upside.”
Senior opposite Finley Dorst had a match-leading 16 kills for Laguna Beach (9-13, 6-1 in the Pacific Hills League), which remains within striking distance of first-place Irvine (8-9, 5-0).
“This team is so close,” Dorst said. “I’ve never been on a team that’s more like family than this. My sister is on this team. My three best friends are on this team, and one of my friend’s sisters is on this team.
“This team is like a family, so everyone’s really close, so obviously tonight — it being senior night — everybody had a lot of big emotions. There was sadness, but it was also excitement that we all get to play together, and we were all, like, really grateful that we had the opportunity to all be on the team at the same time.”
The Breakers travel to take on the Vaqueros on Thursday, Oct. 8. Laguna Beach lost in five sets on its home court in the in teams’ initial meeting on Sept. 22.
“I think we just really need to have the mindset that we can do this,” Dorst said. “We really want to be first in league. We really want to go far ... We’re a good team. We’ve all played together. We’re connecting well, so I think we just really got to put all of our effort into it and just not doubt [each other] at all. They’re a good team. We need to be sure of ourselves.”
After a lopsided first set, Pacifica Christian (7-15, 1-5) challenged in the early parts of the second set. It was a narrow 12-10 deficit for the Tritons after a kill from sophomore setter Elisa Pivoda, but Maia Miller’s kill from the middle would be the beginning of an extraordinary run from the Breakers.
Laguna Beach rattled off the final 13 points of the second set, with freshman Savanna Mair securing six aces in a dozen points spent at the service line during that stretch.
“When I’m on the bench, I’m focused, I’m engaged,” Mair said. “Once I get back to that back line, I just zone into it more, like, I have a routine. In my head, I say, ‘I’m going to go 100% with my feet and then 70% with my arm,’ so that I make sure that [the serve is] in, but then after I make a couple in a row, then I go 100%, and I just keep going, because I’m already in that rhythm.”
Freshman outside hitter Iris Rowe had seven kills and five aces for Laguna Beach. Miller, a senior middle blocker, added seven kills, and fellow senior middle blocker Zoey Bond had four kills, two solo blocks, and two block assists.
Setters Natalia Calef, a senior, and Sienna Utge, a junior, as well as seniors Stella Evans and Savannah Farris, all had two aces apiece.
Junior outside hitter Emery Pelinka and senior middle blocker Kaitlyn Woods each had nine kills to pace Pacifica Christian. Gemma Lee, a sophomore who switched from outside hitter to libero during the match, provided all three of her aces in the third set as the Tritons attempted to rally.
“[Woods] actually just came off of a dislocated shoulder, so this was her second game back,” Pacifica Christian coach Madison Haugh said. “It was really impressive to see her leading in kills, swinging that hard and getting that many blocks. I think she had four blocks in a row one rally, so it was really cool to see her playing that hard after just coming off an injury.”
Laguna Beach is just two years removed from a CIF Southern Section Division 7 title. Tanik, in his sixth year leading the Breakers, sees potential in the current group.
“If we can bring this kind of chemistry, I think their true talents and capacity will shine,” Tanik said. “They will really play good volleyball.”
