League of their Own

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

One point at a time. That was the mindset the Palisades High girls volleyball team had entering the third set of last Thursday’s match versus its biggest rival Venice on Senior Night.

Rally by rally, the Dolphins dug their way out of an 0-2 hole to force a fifth and deciding set and when opposite Caroline Kedeshian teamed with middle Alexa Hogan for a block on match point their teammates poured off the bench to celebrate as if they had won the City championship.

The hardfought 14-25, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23, 16-14 victory meant that much to the five seniors playing their last regular season home match—Kedeshian, defensive specialists Jalyn Johnson and Michal Weinberg, outside hitter Ally Bierschenk and libero Annie Eckert—and to head coach Carlos Gray, who will leave Palisades in the spring to coach the boys team at Westlake.       

It also kept alive a remarkable Western League winning streak that stretched to 111 matches with Monday’s 25-11, 25-8, 25-21 sweep at Hamilton. The Dolphins’ last league defeat came at Venice on October 18, 2010 when Chris Forrest (now at Newbury Park) was their coach. Since then, Palisades has won nine straight  league titles—seven under Gray, who has piloted his team to an 83-0 league mark in his tenure.        

The contest had a “playoff” feel  as the seniors were introduced before  the first set and Gray sang the national anthem as he often does before home matches. Making the Dolphins’ comeback even more improbable is that it was achieved with two starters—setter Kaia Kanan and outside hitter Tara Gaspar—on the bench with injuries. Turning in a heroic effort was junior Georgie Massie, who stepped in for  Kanan and got more and more comfortable as the match wore on.

“We were struggling on our serve receive and with reading their shots,” said Eckert, who cited the Dolphins’ come-from-behind upset of Granada Hills in the City semifinals last fall as her most memorable moment wearing Pali blue. “We showed we have an instinctual desire to win and if we play like we did in the last three sets I truly believe we can win City [again]. We’re still working on it.”

The Dolphins’ junior varsity team set the tone with its 15-12 win in the decisive set and after blowing a two-set lead just two days earlier at Eagle Rock, the varsity dealt the Gondoliers the same fate—denying them a share of the league crown.

“I told them after the fourth set you’ve got a chance to do what was done to you the other day,” Gray said, referring to last Tuesday’s nonleague showdown in which the host Eagles rallied for a 26-28, 27-29, 25-13, 25-20, 15-8 win. “Eagle Rock outworked us and we went away from our gameplan, simple as that. It probably cost us the No. 2 seed, but I told the girls today if we see Eagle Rock again in the playoffs I like our chances.”   

Kanan injured her hand at the end of the fourth set and sat out the fifth.