La Jolla's women's volleyball team overcame a lapse of intensity in the third game Tuesday (Nov. 5), finally putting University City away in the fourth game, 26-24, to close out the Vikings' final regular season match at home, 3-1. La Jolla, which plays its last regular season match before CIF playoffs this afternoon (Nov. 6) at Scripps Ranch, raises its Western League record to 4-5, 16-15 overall. UC falls to 2-7, 15-14 overall.
Sophomore hitter Madeleine Gates continued what Coach David Jones terms "elite" level performance, recording 205 kills in 458 attempts, a 44.8 percent rate, leading into last night's match. That amounts to 2.3 kills per set played. Junior Emma Willis, also 6-foot-2, showed increased intensity and effectiveness.
But the night belonged to the three departing seniors, captain Clare Farley, Riley Young, and the animated Simone Stavros. An especially moved Young said after the match on Senior Night: "It was very, very emotional. There have been a lot of ups and downs my past four years. But it's really nice having a great group of girls this year." "Lots of tears (tonight)," she added.
Farley said, "It feels very good, especially coming out with a big win here, because I feel a lot of closure. We have a lot of momentum going into CIF. It's an exciting experience, because I remember two years ago my sister (Ryan) was in the same spot, and I've watched three groups of seniors go off during Senior Night. And now being a senior, it's kind of unreal. I got to really feel like I'm actually a senior."
Young commented: "I think in the third game we felt like we had already won, and we didn't try as hard. In the fourth game we finished it."
Farley explained that Tuesday was also "Dig for the Cure" night, to grow awareness of the fight to cure breast cancer. She said her sister started La Jolla's involvement three years ago, and she has taken the torch to continue the Vikings' participation to raise money for the cause.
Copyright 2013 Ed Piper
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