EARLY-SEASON VOLLEYBALL UPSET
Prep girls v-ball roundup: Trinity upsets Golden Valley in 5 games; Saugus sweeps team in home opener
You could hear Trinity Classical Academy volleyball’s win over Golden Valley before you could see it.
The sound of Hannah Rapier’s block in Game 5 seemed to echo before the ball landed at the Grizzlies’ feet. That blocked sealed the Knights win, 3-2.
“She’s one of the younger players on our team and for her to take hold of that moment and just pick up our team is like, incredible,” said Trinity outside hitter Hannah Caddow. “I think that was amazing.”
Trinity (1-1) may have completed the upset with a 15-12 win in the final frame, but had to overcome a midmatch slump to get there.
The team took Game 1, 28-26, capitalizing on an ace to tie up the game at 24-all, but then lost the following two by scores of 25-11 and 25-17.
Jordan Nunez led the way for Golden Valley (3-1), finishing the night with four aces, 13 kills and 13 assists.
The Grizzlies tried to neutralize Caddow, a net-front menace who fueled the offense with 21 kills.
“We were trying to serve her to try and disrupt things a little and make her pass and when we did that we felt we were pretty successful,” said GV coach Jack Johnson. “But we couldn’t always get the ball to her.”
Game 4 was close with the Grizzlies tying it up towards the end of the frame. But a serving error gave Trinity a 2219 lead, and the Knights never looked back.
“I think it’s just we needed to find our rhythm again and we weren’t making adjustments to where we needed to go in those sets and it happens,” said Knights coach Rebecca Peluffo. “But we finally shifted and made the adjustments and were able to shut down their main players, which definitely helped us.”
Trinity also took advantage of seeing some Foothill League competition, which brought a bigger gym and louder fans.
“I think everyone had a little bit of jitters, but as soon as we started playing as one rather than six individual people, that’s where we really hit our stride,” Caddow said.
Saugus 3, Newbury Park 0
The Centurions brought out the power against Newbury Park, sweeping the visiting to earn a sixth win for Saugus.
The Centurions (6-1) won the sets 25-14, 25-21 and 25-18.
“I think they did well,” said coach Zach Ambrose. “Newbury Park had some hard hitters but we served well and our offense was pretty balanced.”
Leading the way was senior outside hitter Caitlin Liebe, who tallied 13 kills.
Senior Grace Ferguson earned seven kills and four blocks. Her hitting percentage was .636 for the night.
The Centurions face Buena of Ventura at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Chaminade 3,
Canyon 1
Canyon High volleyball dropped its first game of season Tuesday, losing to Chaminade, 3-1, at Canyon High School.
The Cowboys (3-1) loss the first game to Chaminade, but managed to take the second game.
Chaminade won the next two games.
“We beat ourselves,” said coach Robert Treahy. “They took advantage of our weaknesses and we didn’t take advantages of their weaknesses.”
Junior Kyra Titner registered seven blocks to lead all Cowboys.
Stockdale 3, Hart 2
Hart High volleyball’s mistakes and errors proved too much for the Indians, falling to Stockdale of Bakersfield, 3-2, despite a 2-1 lead.
The Indians (2-2) cruised to an easy second game win and then scrapped out a win in the third. But the Indians couldn’t close the next two games.
“We had moments when we played very well, but when we got off rotation and started making mistakes and errors, we struggled to overcome as a team,” said coach Mary Irilian.
“We need to overcome bad moments and bad plays,” she said. “We’re not recovering fast enough.”
Sophomore Megan Soto led all Hart players with 17 kills. Senior Ashley Cosey added 14 kills and Shelby Grubbs tallied seven kills. Hart’s Makenna Fall had 38 digs in the match.