Glendale High girls’ volleyball awarded wild-card match

After the Glendale High girls’ volleyball team recorded its first winning season since the 1990s, co-coach Jennifer Vo briefly mulled over if the program’s latest body of work in the regular season would warrant possible playoff consideration.

Glendale went 11-9 and 7-7 in the Pacific League for fifth place. While the top four teams from the Pacific League automatically qualify for the playoffs, Vo reviewed several key factors that she figured might work in the Nitros’ favor in an effort to extend their season.

Vo and the Nitros learned their fate Friday after the CIF Southern Section office awarded them a wild-card road match against Rio Hondo Prep at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“It’s one of the stronger teams that we’ve had and we showed a lot of improvement by beating some real good teams in our league,” Vo said. “I talked with [co-coach] Ta’ase Mose about it after the Hoover match Tuesday and we decided to petition to CIF.

“The process wasn’t too bad. It was just about filling out a roster, our schedule and the application. We had an overall winning record. We weren’t sure what are chances were, but we felt like we had to give it a try.”

Rio Hondo Prep finished 16-10, 4-8 in the Prep League for fourth place.

Vo said she wasn’t too familiar with Rio Hondo Prep.

“I don’t know much about them,” Vo said. “We hope to play our best.

“We are excited about being able to play in a playoff match. It will be a great experience for our players.”

A total of nine wild-card matches will be held Saturday, four of them in Division II-A. The CIF Southern Section office will unveil the remainder of the divisional pairings 12:30 p.m. Saturday.