Sports
Volleyball: La Cañada Sweeps La Salle
Spartans earn key road victory over Lancers before start of Rio Hondo League play.
So far this season, the has traveled more than 6,000 miles, including stops to Las Vegas and Hawaii. The Spartans were surely happy to be back close to home, and showed how important those tough matches were in handling host La Salle in straight sets 25-16, 25-18, 25-15.
“This is the most energy that we’ve had all year. We had to do a lot of traveling and I think that wore on the girls a bit, but now they are back we look great,” said coach Brock Turner. “Now we just need to work on getting ready for league play.”
La Canada, (8-7), entered the matched ranked No. 6 in the CIF Southern Section Division 2-AA poll. La Salle was ranked No. 9 in the same division.
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Both teams were evenly matched up in the beginning, before La Canada put together a few points to stretch out a 10-7 lead. From there, the Spartans used their tough defense to get some easy points on blocks, while the Lancers also provided some free points by serving four faults in the first set.
La Canada continued to slowly stretch the lead, and eventually won the set 25-16. The Spartans continued that momentum into the second set,jumping out to a huge 13-3, thanks in part to their superb, deep serving.
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“Serving is so important for us. We noticed that they weren’t making a ton of adjustments, so we knew what spots were weak and where to attack. The girls did a great job of recognizing weakness and attacked it,” said Turner.
La Salle was able to stop the bleeding, and slowly crawled their way back in, with the closest margin being 20-17. La Canada served out the final point of the set.
“You know there’s no way to practice momentum but winning those points is the epitome of it. We got the big shots when we needed, which is great because it’s tough when you’re on the losing end of those points,” Turner said. “I thought all around we played a great game. Of course you have a few hiccups here and there, but I thought we did a great job of passing and digging tonight.”
Junior outside hitters Micaela Anderson and Kendall Walbrecht tied for the team lead with 14 kills, while senior libero Catherine Horner finished with 20 digs. The Spartans open league Thursday at Temple City.
