The Molten/Gahr Volleyball Classic Final between Lakewood and Los Alamitos on Wednesday night played less like an early season tournament, and more like a CIF playoff game. After a turbulent five sets, the Griffins stayed undefeated and handed the Lancers their second loss of the season, 23-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-16, 18-16.
The quick-hitting Lancers knocked the Griffins on their heels in the first set, and took advantage of some mistakes in a second set comeback to go up 2-0. However, once Los Al found its feet, and outside hitter Jane Croson got going, the Griffins used their size at the net and kept the Lancers at bay in a dramatic fifth set.
“Last year they beat us in three in this tournament’s final,” said Lakewood coach Mike Wadley after the match. “Of course we really wanted to win this one, and we obviously had our chances, but this night shows we’re improving as a program and we’ve got our own little rivalry going.”
The first set was as close as the match, but Lakewood maintained the lead (despite eight ties) after going up 7-6 on a block by Chrissy Tuua and Tyler Jackson. Tuua was in on three other blocks in the opening set, and the Lakewood defense looked faster than the Griffin attack. Senior outside hitter Jasmine Orozco paced the Lancer attack with five kills in the set.
In the second set, the two teams traded points until Lakewood pulled away 12-8 on a Los Al service error. After a timeout, the Griffins started to really look for Croson, and it paid off. Behind back-to-back kills from the junior, Los Al went on a 13-4 run to take a 21-16 lead. But following a timeout of their own, the Lancers fought back on the arm of Taylor Hollins who had back-to-back kills of her own to spark a 9-0 Lakewood run and the 25-22 second set victory.
In yet another example of what a high quality volleyball match this was, three of those Lancer points in the 9-0 run came off the block, as did many in the entire match (41-of-212 points came off the block, or every fifth point).
“After we blew game two, I told the girls we had to have been doing something right to get that lead,” said Los Alamitos head coach Dave Huber, who was starting sophomore Rachel Fattal and freshman Justine Wong-Orantes on the back line. “We were a little shell shocked by their speed, and you can’t simulate Lakewood’s speed in practice… but once we got comfortable, we started trusting each other, started getting more confident, and we were able to take more chances.”
By taking more chances, coach Huber meant find Croson and give it too her no matter where she was on the court, even if she did have to kick the ball over the net— which she did to make it 9-6 Los Al in the third. A Croson kill and a service ace from Christina Harris forced Lakewood to call a timeout with the score 14-8. But when the teams returned to the court with the Lancers keeping one eye on Croson, other players like Harris, middle blocker Halli Amaro and outside hitter Alijah Gunsauslus got into the rhythm of the match. Amaro was in on the two blocks that ended the set, 25-17.
Momentum was clearly on the Los Al side in the fourth set, and they charged out to a 16-10 lead. Lakewood played well enough on some points to get back into the set, but each point was followed by a Lancer mistake (six Lakewood errors in the final 15 points) and the Griffins forced a fifth set on a solo block from Gunsauslus.
The fifth set started much like the third and fourth did— Los Al had the momentum, and Croson was on fire. She scored five of the first ten points and Los Al opened a 10-5 lead. But like we always say at LBPostSports: momentum in volleyball is the most fickle of all the momentums.
It looked like Los Al had gone up 11-5 when Amaro spiked an errant over pass, but she was called on the net. Lakewood took advantage and went on a 6-3 run until a Croson kill made it game point at 14-11. The Lancers worked hard on a long rally to get the side out, and coach Wadley brought EJ Kennelly in off the bench.
The Kennelly “jump/float serve” worked well and the Lancers were able to feed Hollins on the left side. The senior had some of her best swings of the night in a seven point stretch that saw Lakewood come back to tie it at 16-16.
So, you would expect the Griffins to feed Croson with the game on the line, right? Well, that’s what the Lancers thought, as well. With the scored tied, the Lakewood defense was caught cheating on the outside, and Amaro slammed an over pass for her sixth kill of the night. Then on game point, it was Amaro again with Fattal who blocked Orozco for the five-set victory, 18-16.
Croson finished with 17 kills while Amaro ruled the net and was in on nine blocks. Orozco had ten kills, Hollins added 11 and Jackson had 8. You would expect bigger numbers from a long match like this, but with all the points scored off the block, the low stat totals have to be a testament to the defensive skill on the floor Wednesday night.
Asked after if his heart could take it if all the matches were like this one, Wadley chuckled, “my heart could take it, but my bald spot would get a lot bigger.”