Falcons turn back Nitros in four
LA CRESCENTA — With each serve, Noel Wong displayed more confidence.
The Crescenta Valley High girls’ volleyball player took advantage of most of the open spots on the opposite side of the court and helped the Falcons atone for their early season loss against Glendale.
Wong finished with 11 aces and 10 kills on Tuesday afternoon to lead host Crescenta Valley to a 25-18, 22-25, 25-15, 25-16 Pacific League victory versus Glendale.
“Usually, I haven’t been that consistent with my serving,” said Wong, who had four aces in the fourth game. “I was able to be consistent today.
“We had to go out there and push that much harder because they beat us the first time we played them.”
Crescenta Valley improved to 8-7, 3-6 in league, while Glendale dropped to 5-8, 3-5. Glendale posted a 16-25, 25-20, 25-20 25-23 home victory against Crescenta Valley on Sept. 13.
Crescenta Valley also received 10 kills, nine digs and four aces from Kasieh Cases and eight kills and 10 digs from Emmie Walker.
The Falcons seized control of the match in the third game. Crescenta Valley used a 10-4 run to take a 17-9 lead. Walker had five kills in that stretch.
“Emmie had a lot of big kills right there,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Jen Ku Lee, who got eight digs and 20 assists from Rosa Kwak. “I thought that was the turning point.
“In the second game, we had no rhythm. We had to get back to the way we played in the first game.”
Crescenta Valley never let Glendale, which had defeated the Falcons in the teams’ last two meetings, mount a serious rally in the final two games.
Glendale Coach Jennifer Vo said she anticipated Crescenta Valley to play better compared to the first time the team competed.
“We knew it would be much harder this time around,” said Vo, who got 14 assists from Serly Andrias and 12 from Gabrielle Magpantay. “We made a lot of hitting and serving errors, and we couldn’t run our offense.
“We gave them a lot of free balls and we have to get back and work on our serve-receiving.”
The Nitros got seven and six kills, respectively, from Grace Tappin and Alyssa Ridad.
The Falcons jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first game. Sabrina Shahbandeh had two aces and Wong had two kills in that stretch. Glendale closed to within 14-13 on a kill by Serena Snaer, but Crescenta Valley finished on an 11-5 run, capped by an ace by Wong.
Glendale showed improvement in the second game. The Nitros used a late 7-1 run to take a 22-18 lead. A kill by Kirsten Cabarong evened the match at one game apiece.
Walker notched six kills in the third game.
Crescenta Valley led throughout the fourth game. An ace by Wong gave the Falcons a 6-2 advantage. The Nitros could get no closer than 9-6 on a kill by Cabarong before Crescenta Valley used a 13-7 run to build a 22-13 lead. Wong had two kills to complete the run.
