Growing Pains

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The Palisades High girls volleyball team got its first real test last weekend at the 13th annual Chatsworth Invitational and after two days of matches against strong competition, including several of the top City Section teams, Dolphins coach Carlos Gray saw his squad face adversity  that could help the Dolphins come playoff time.

After sweeping Royal, Hueneme and Sylmar to win its pool on Friday, Palisades opened the second round of pool play Saturday morning with two more sweeps of Eagle Rock and Cerritos. The Dolphins then took on Foothill of Nevada for first place in the pool and lost 115-9 in the decisive third set to settle for second. Still, the Dolphins qualified for the Gold Division, and in the opening round of brackey play they defeated  Chatsworth to move into the quarterfinal round against Thousand Oaks. The Lancers prevailed 25-19, 25-18 and went on to beat Taft in the semifinals and Notre Dame Academy in the finals. Taft had gone undefeated through pool play.

On Monday, Palisades was back in action in its own gym, taking on rival Venice in its Western League opener. Despite getting a little bit closer each set the Dolphins fell 25-15, 25-19, 25-21. The teams will meet again October 2 at Venice.   

Palisades beat Venice three times last season (twice in league and once in tournament play) on its way to the City Open Division semifinals, where it lost in four sets to El Camino Real. The Dolphins captured the last of their record 30 section titles in 2020. The next most titles for any City school is 10 by Elizabeth.