Posted on 28 September 2012 by La Habra Journal
By Nathan Percy
La Habra Journal
Comm- One night removed from its Division 2 Championship in the Dave Mohs Tournament, Whittier Christian’s girls volleyball team handled La Serna, defeating the Lancers 3-0 at home Tuesday night.
The Lady Heralds pulled away from La Serna midway through each set, leading to a 25-11, 25-15, 25-17 final.
“We weren’t able to practice coming in,” Hunter said. “We knew a little about La Serna, but weren’t able to put it into a practice to prepare, so it was good to see them keep the momentum up and get after it.”
Passing was the strength tonight as Nicole Santos and Jennifer Washle consistently fed the ball to the Lady Heralds two main attackers, Kylee Wolfe and Deanna Blaine.
Washle was consistent in each set, tallying 34 assists in the victory while Wolfe led the team with 17 kills and Blaine added 14 in what looked to be the most dominant effort by the duo this season.
“They took advantage tonight and had good swings,” Hunter said. “When they’re efficient we’re a really good team, when everyone is consistent, we’re good, but they had some really good hits tonight.”
In each set, timeouts were called with scores at 14-8, 14-8 and 14-9. Following the timeout, Whittier Christian would go on a run and never look back.
Wolfe and Blaine were balanced throughout the evening, matching each other kill-for-kill through the first two sets.
In the first set, Whittier Christian jumped ahead early as Washle and Wolfe set the tone. However, a 5-1 run by La Serna with kills coming from Samantha Neely and Tammy Doelker, led to a timeout by the Lady Heralds.
Whittier Christian regained serve immediately and Washle made La Serna pay with three service aces en route to a 6-0 run.
The Lady Heralds would finish the set on a 11-3 run.
La Serna showed more fight early on in the second set as the Lady Lancers’ offense began to find rhythm.
Melissa Martinez recorded three early kills as the score remained close until a small run by Whittier Christian forced a La Serna timeout with the score 14-8.
Once again Whittier Christian pulled away with two more service aces by Washle as she held serve for four points and Kelly Papatoff held serve for a 5-0 run.
Blaine and Wolfe helped out with seven and six kills, respectively, in the second set and Whittier Christian took it 25-15.
Papatoff would prove to be a nuisance for the Lady Lancers in the third set as well, holding serve for another 6-0 run as Whittier Christian put the match out of reach.
Once again a La Serna timeout was called with the score 14-9 and for a third set, the Lady Heralds had a powerful response.
Kiana Louie recorded two kills from the middle and Wolfe muscled through six more as Whittier Christian breezed through to a match victory.
“We did a great job serving and keeping pressure on them,” Hunter said. “Our girls did a good job of focusing tonight and not allowing last night’s excitement to effect them.”
The Lady Heralds will have two days to prepare for their league opener Thursday at Maranatha High in Pasadena.
Whittier Christian finishes up its nonleague schedule with a 12-2 record, with both losses coming in tournament play.
“It’s going to be really nice to practice because we’ve had games since last Thursday,” Hunter said. “It will be nice to have time to prepare and focus because league is when things start to get crazy, but I’m excited for that.”
