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The Volleyball Team Stops Dead
by Dylan Coplin, Sports Editor
This year the volleyball team did as expected - WELL!. They came in
second place in the league but almost beat the first place team
twice. Their overall record was 8-2 in the Pioneer league. The
biggest accomplishment of the season was beating North Torrance,
their rivals and league champions.
The last game of the season against South Torrance was
held at El Segundo. The game went to the 5 matches to give South the
victory, 2-3. Every match was close and could have been won by
either team. Seniors Tara Hovland and Sarah Stutzel played
terrifically with huge kills to give them big points; Stutzel had 15
and Hovland with 17 each. Junior Melanie Palmer also played to her
status; she passed for a total of 32 assists out of the 35 for the
team. Senior Jo'Vine Tulikihihifo had the other three assists and
also added an additional 6 kills to the total. Even with all of this
strength, El Segundo lost through their weakness. The South team was
very prepared for hard hitting, they recovered many kills that were
sent towards them and put them back. Senior Kellye Larsen saved 9
balls but it was not enough for El Segundo. South Torrance won the
last two matches to clench the victory.
The first CIF game for the Eagles was against the not
as good Arcadia team. Even though each match was pretty close in
score, the Eagles completely dominated the game. Hovland killed the
ball 21 times during the game and Palmer had another 32 assist game.
El Segundo clenched the first round CIF win 3-0 moving onto the next
round.
In the second round for CIF, the Eagles faced King in
an away game. Each of the matches were close once again, but the
Eagles came out on top each for each match. The first and third
matches were each 25-22 and the second match was 25-20. Each of the
Eagles did well and played like they would in any other game.
The most recent game was their last venture in the CIF
world this year. The final game was against the strong Elsinore
team. The game was close, but the Eagles could not hold on to the
lead. The Elsinore team had a beast of a player. She was taller than
junior Kevin Ryan and more beastly than junior Trevor Richter and
senior Randy Gerber combined. She was the best player on their team,
but regardless Larsen could not dig all of her spikes. She must have
hit harder than Hovland and it was too much for the Eagles. The
finally took a dive and fell short against Elsinore 2-3.
The Eagles made it to the third round CIF game but
could not beat the big Elsinore team. Hopefully next year they will
do as well with Palmer and the other strong underclassmen returning.
It is definitely a huge blow to the team with all the skill in the
seniors leaving this year.
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