Several local scholastic girls volleyball teams have netted some big wins over the last week or two of play.
At La Jolla High, head coach Dave Jones and the Lady Vikings placed sixth of 40 teams in the recent Beach City Invitational. La Jolla was second (behind Santa Fe Christian) among San Diego teams. La Jolla went 7-2 in play, with Karly Deer and Haley Cameron both selected to the all-tournament team.
In action last week, La Jolla beat University City, then fell to Cathedral. The Lady Vikings came into this week ranked second in the Western League (behind Cathedral), with a league record of 5-1 and an overall record of 17-6.
La Jolla will visit Mira Mesa on Friday.
La Jolla Country Day School under head coach Peter Ogle also saw action in the Beach City Invitational recently. LJCD defeated Taft 2-0, Southwest 2-0, and Estancia 2-0 to open play.
“Many of those games were close, hard-fought victories,” Ogle said.
Mountain View was too strong for the Lady Torreys, but they came back in the second game, eventually losing 25-23.
“Estancia was the last match of the pool play and was the determining factor for who would be in the gold division on Saturday,” Ogle noted. “The girls worked very hard and won the first game 25-23. This seemed to break Estancia’s spirit and the Torreys won easily, 25-15.”
Saturday morning playoffs began with a very tough loss to Woodbridge (another semifinal team). The teams split the first two games and Woodbridge pulled out a 15-13 victory in the third game.
Next up, the Lady Torreys won a three-game match with Highland, winning the third game 15-8. With that win, the next match was the quarterfinals for fifth place in the tournament. The Cougars from Escondido were the opponent, fresh off a victory over The Bishop’s School.
LJCD lost the first game, but true to form, the Lady Torreys kept working hard. The result was a second-game win, 25-11.
The momentum continued for a 15-10 victory in the third game. The Lady Torreys lost the last match to host La Jolla, to finish tied for seventh in the 40-team tournament.
“We are starting to play together as a group and develop some team identity,” Ogle noted. “I am very pleased and proud of our progress, but we still have tremendous room for improvement.”
Stats for the tournament had Lauren Birks with 68 kills and 26 digs. Molly Rogers had 28 kills and 33 digs, while Jordan Krant was next with 17 kills.
Setters Chloe Mathis and Mary Mack had 58 and 78 assists, respectively. Libero Cheyenne Giesecke had 42 digs.
Finally, The Bishop’s School (12-5) scored a big win last week in upsetting top-ranked Santa Fe Christian, which had just beaten the Lady Knights in the Beach City Invitational.
“We played our best match of the season and won in three straight, 25-21, 25-21, 25-21,” Bishop’s School head coach Tod Mattox noted.
Carly Bollert led Bishop’s with 13 kills and five aces, while Laurel Casey chipped in with 13 digs and 17 perfect passes.
“Setters Julie Gantz and Ina Kamenova were also outstanding; our attacking efficiency was excellent,” Mattox added.