Hart clears another big hurdle
Prep V-Ball roundup: Indians outlast Saugus to stay unbeaten in league play, keeping pace with Valencia
It took the Hart girls volleyball team three games to get into a rhythm.
But once it did, it was able to put away a hard-fighting Saugus team in four games by scores of 25-13, 23-25, 25-22, 25-17 at Hart High on Thursday evening.
“Game four we played more of our tempo and the girls felt a little more energized,” said Hart head coach Mary Keen, whose team remains undefeated in the Foothill League with a 3-0 record and is 7-3 overall.
The Indians’ Lexi Chabiniak and Brooke Boron got into a groove in the third game of the match after the two league foes were knotted up at a game apiece.
Boron was able to capitalize in the middle and had a match-high 13 kills and five blocks. Chabiniak finished the night with 10 kills and three blocks.
Ashley Aponik, who got the start at setter because Madi Fay was ill, led the Indians with 34 assists, while Sarah Coblentz added eight kills and four blocks.
The Saugus girls volleyball team tried everything it could to pull out a win over Hart.
The Centurions were diving all over the court, hitting 3-balls over the net in desperation, and Alison Ritchie even scored a point off a block while falling to the floor.
“I felt because we won the first game 25-13 (we) started to get more casual about (the match and) thinking that they were just going to get (the win),” said Keen.
But Saugus’ intensity wasn’t enough.
The Cents were led by Ritchie, who had nine kills and by senior Jessica Jimenez
with six kills. Jimenez also had two aces to break a 22-all tie in the second game and Ritchie finished it off with a kill into the middle.
With the loss, Saugus drops to 1-2 in league play and 9-10 overall. But head coach Eric Luckenbach still sees the positives.
“What wasn’t disappointing was that we fought the entire way though,” Luckenbach said. “I think that’s a good quality that we’ve adopted from the beginning of the year and we try to make sure we’re working the entire match.”
Valencia 3, Golden Valley 0 Coming off its first league win in nearly four years, Golden Valley was unable to make it two in a row as Valencia swept the Grizzlies by scores of 2512, 25-17, 25-12.
The Vikings spread the ball around to Lauren Russ and Emily Burns,
who each had a team-high eight kills.
Sydney Overton led the Grizzlies with eight kills and six digs.
Valencia joins Hart as the only undefeated team in the Foothill League with a 3-0 league record. The Vikings are 7-0 overall.
Golden Valley moves to 6-9 overall and 1-2 in league. West Ranch 3,
Canyon 1 West Ranch was able to withstand a firstgame loss and won three straight games to beat Canyon in four games by scores of 23-25, 25-9, 2517, 25-11.
The Wildcats nabbed their first league win of the season to move them to 1-2 in Foothill play and 9-7 overall.
The Cowboys drop to 5-5 overall and 0-3 in league with the loss. Hillcrest Christian 3,
Einstein 2 In a matchup of the Omega League’s top two teams, Albert Einstein Academy gave up a two-
game lead to lose to Hillcrest Christian of Thousand Oaks on Thursday.
Hillcrest won by game scores of 23-25, 15-25, 2514, 25-14, 15-13.
Senior Caroline Malka led Einstein with 12 kills and four blocks as the Rockets (9-5 overall, 6-1 Omega League) tallied 17 total blocks in the match.
Hillcrest (10-4-1, 8-0) takes the upper hand in league, but the two teams will rematch on Oct. 27 at Hillcrest. Heritage Christian 3,
Trinity 0 In a non-conference match, Trinity lost to Heritage Christian in straight games by scores of 25-11, 25-19, 25-23.
Heritage plays six divisions higher than Trinity in the CIF-Southern Section.
Hannah Caddow and JaNasjua Bethke led the Knights with four kills each, while Jessica Eblin added four aces and seven assists.
Kathryn Brooks had a team-high eight assists.
Trinity is 16-7-1 overall.