Posted on 15 November 2014 by La Habra Journal
By Erik Markus
La Habra Journal
Coming off a dominate win against Calvary Chapel, the Whittier Christian Heralds looked outmatched against the Brea Olinda Lady Wildcats.
The Wildcats got off to a quick start and held off the Heralds to win three straight and sweep their way through the second round, 15-25, 21-25, 24-26.
The Heralds played their best game with their backs against the wall in game three, and pushed Brea past 25 points, but the Wildcats were too strong for the Heralds.
Early on you could see the nerves the Heralds were dealing with.
The Heralds had 19 errors compared to only 9 by the Wildcats.
By the time the Heralds reached the third game, they were playing better volleyball and looked composed.
“Third game, I thought we found it, back and forth battle, we’ve been in that situation so many times this year, its just a matter if we could just get that win, I think we could have at least challenged them again in the forth and fifth games
The Wildcats found a lot of success defensively up the middle, and generated kills with ease from their outside hitters.
“We had a gameplan going in to stop Abby Broadstreet, and I thought we did a pretty good job, we had some great digs on her. She’s gonna get her kills. What I don’t think we did a good enough job with was just playing up front against their middle,” Morrison said.
Brea’s striking power allowed them to change things up tapping balls just over the net as the Heralds were backpedaling.
The Heralds responded from a lackluster first game with a strong start to the second game.
Tied 8-8 the Wildcats began to break away. They eventually stretched their lead to 11-18 before the Heralds again began to chip away.
An ace from Mandy Sides brought the Heralds within three points, but Sides’ next serve went into the net.
The Heralds responded winning the sideout, but were too far away to come all the way back. the Wildcats held on to win game two 21-25.
The Heralds stayed on pace with the Wildcats in game one staying within four points through most of the set.
With the Wildcats up 20-15, they turned up their intensity and won five straight points to finish the set 25-15.
“I thought the first game got away from us because the fact we were too pumped up,” Morrison said.
The Heralds had only three seniors left from a team who competed in the Division II state tournament last year.
“One of the best memories of my life, I was so blessed to be a captain this year and leading these girls, its the best part if the whole season,” Jeanne Reinis said about leading this team this year.
Though they had some experience, it was the youth that shined through in this game.
“They’ll remember this next year, they will, and that’s what you love about it, because we got another shot, we always got another shot,” Morrison said.
With the loss, Whittier Christian is eliminated for CIF and Brea will continue on to play North High School from Torrance.
