Photos by Steve Galluzzo
Pali High Girls Volleyball will Try to Repeat as City Champion
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
Every season presents a new challenge and the task at hand for the Palisades High girls volleyball team is to defend its City Section Open Division championship. That won’t be easy given that its best hitter (Alex Laita), best middle blocker (Annie Wibbelsman) and starting setter (Keely McMahon) all graduated, but then again no one expected the Dolphins to win it all last fall.
“The team should be competitive this year, but we’re young,” co-head coach Dustyn Woropay said. “Caroline Kedeshian and Annie Eckert are great players and Ally Bierschenk is very steady, but we have a sophomore setter [Kaia Kanan] and two freshmen [Tara Gaspar and Maddie Nielsen] competing for time at outside. We’ll definitely be a different team as the season goes along.”
Woropay is handling the varsity this fall along with Carlos Gray, who took the Westlake High boys position over the summer and will coach there in the spring.
Michal Weinberg returns at defensive specialist backed by junior Tatiana Fett and senior Jalyn Johnson, juniors Gaby Bogomolny and Georgi Massey will be the back-up setters, Charlotte Jones will hit opposite and junior Alexa Hogan and Jamie Robertson are the middles.
The Dolphins open the season today at the Chatsworth Tournament, where they made the finals last fall. They also play the Sylmar Classic (they were second last year) and the Venice Invitational, where they made the semifinals.
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