Dolphins Sink Pirates’ Ship

Boys Volleyball Sweeps San Pedro in Playoff Opener; Uni Next

Two months and a day after playing the same team in its season opener, the Palisades High boys volleyball team found itself matched against San Pedro in the first round of the City playoffs. Fortunately for the Dolphins, the rematch yielded a similar result. Playing with the same confidence and execution it used to overpower the Pirates in three straight games back on March 3, Palisades dominated in all aspects of the game en route to a 25-10, 25-22, 25-19 victory Tuesday night. The win earned the seventh-seeded Dolphins (9-5) a third crack at Western League champion and No. 2 seed University, a 25-19, 25-11, 25-16 winner over 15th-seeded Huntington Park Tuesday. The Wildcats, who beat the Dolphins in both league meetings this season, host Palisades in the quarterfinals tonight at 7 p.m. It took Palisades less than 80 minutes to dispatch 10th-seeded San Pedro (9-5), the two-time defending Marine League champion. ‘Our passing was pretty good and our hitting was really good,’ said PaliHi setter Rusty Barneson, who had 33 assists. ‘Especially Zach [Rosenblatt]. He was really ripping it.’ Senior hitter Jason Schall led the Pali attack with 10 kills, three blocks and two jump serve aces, Rosenblatt had five kills and three blocks and Brett Vegas had 11 digs. Middle blocker Nash Petrovic, who had 12 kills and six blocks in the prior meeting between the schools, pitched in Tuesday with two blocks and five kills, one of which ended the second game. ‘I remember from the last time we played them that their blocking wasn’t too good,’ said Schall, one of the Dolphins’ emotional leaders. ‘I knew if I hit it hard they wouldn’t be able to control their blocks. That’s how we got a lot of points.’ With San Pedro out of the way, the Dolphins’ focus now shifts to league rival University, which beat Palisades in four games on March 24 and in five games on April 21. Schall provided a blueprint of what the Dolphins must do to turn the tables on Uni: ‘They have weaknesses. Their big strength is in the middle. We need to shut down their big middle blocker’he was powerful. We also need to play real sound defense. We can’t let easy balls drop like we did tonight. And we need to serve well. Last time, I got a lot of aces on my jump serve.’ Though University is seeded higher, PaliHi head coach Dave Smith said he prefers playing the Wildcats over Venice, which also beat the Dolphins twice in league matches. Venice, seeded fourth out of 16 teams, beat Kennedy 25-23, 25-13, 25-23 in the first round and would not meet Pali until the finals May 14 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. ‘Uni is a good team but for some reason I think we match up better with them than we do against Venice. We almost beat them (Uni) on their home court the last time we played them, so if we do a few things differently I’m confident we can win. I like our chances.’