Tuesday’s was the game Joseph Rios had been pointing to, and for the first half hour it appeared as though his San Marino High School girls’ varsity volleyball team had hit the target. The Lady Titans defeated Monrovia by a score of 25-19 in the first set and appeared poised to exact revenge for the Lady Wildcats’ victory three weeks ago in the Rio Hondo league opener.
The contest, played in Dingus Memorial Fieldhouse, would determine who would advance into first place and Monrovia had no intentions of surrendering its perch.
Middle blocker De’Neisha Davis and outside hitters Sydney Coravalli and Caroline Mulvihill braced themselves following the early onslaught and won the next three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23 to win the match and strengthen their grip on the title.
Junior Keila Barra had a match-high 24 kills to accompany 4 aces and 10 digs. Senior outside hitter Nicole Doerges chipped in with 14 kills and junior setter Hannah Wang racked up 40 assists, but it wasn’t enough as the ‘Cats prevailed.
Aside from the loss, the Lady Titans suffered further dismay when Barra injured her ankle on the penultimate rally of the contest and had to be helped to the bench, where she was forced to watch as the Lady Titans surrendered the final point.
“We will see,” said Rios when discussing the status of Barra, who is arguably the best all-around player in the Rio Hondo League.
San Marino’s 16 missed serves didn’t help matters in the least.
“This being the beginning of the second half of league, we had the mindset that we wanted to go 5-0 this half,” said Rios. “It was a very good win in the first set. But in our second and third sets we really struggled because of our missed serves. That is our double-edged sword. When we are serving well, we are excellent when we don’t, we aren’t.”
Rios also had words of praise for junior opposite hitter Morgan Wong.
“Morgan played really well,” said Rios. “She is not always the person who gets the set, but she made a lot of shots and earned us a lot of points.”
Libero Caitlyn Nguyen also impressed her coach with excellent passing and defense.
“This is Caitlyn’s first year on varsity and she was called on to replace our regular libero,” Rios explained. “I thought she played very well.”
Middle blockers Erin Hill and Lauren Eriksen did their best in the middle, but it wasn’t enough as the Lady Titans dropped to 4-2 in the Rio Hondo League and 17-10 overall.
But San Marino still controls its destiny in the playoff hunt and remains in second place after successive wins over La Cañada and South Pasadena. If Barra is forced to miss much time, it will be a struggle to stay there.
