Learning Curve

Pali High Volleyball Reaches Semifinals at Chatsworth Tournment

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

No, they did not walk out of the gym with medals around their necks, but Palisades High girls volleyball  players left Chatsworth with something more important Saturday night: confidence.

“We grew up a lot these last two days,” Coach Carlos Gray admitted. “We showed a lot of improvement and I’m surprised how well we did considering how young and inexperienced we are at certain positions. There’s still a lot of work to do but this is a huge step forward.”
The Chatsworth Invitational is an early-season barometer for City teams and it certainly was that for a Palisades squad reeling from losses to Crescenta Valley and Viewpoint.
The two-day tournament featured 14 City schools and Palisades was the only one of them to reach the Gold Division semifinals—a testament to the intensity the players showed and the attention to detail they displayed in practice leading up to it.

Palisades got off to a rocky start, losing two sets to one to host Chatsworth. The Dolphins rebounded to    sweep its last three matches versus  Marshall, South East and Kennedy to take second place in Pool E.

On Saturday morning a second round of pool play commenced and minus their senior leader and best hitter Maddie Neilson, the Dolphins beat Channel Islands, Birmingham and Crescenta Valley to clinch the No.2 seed in the Gold Division.

“Beating CV was huge because we’d lost to them nine days before  and we didn’t have our setter,” Gray said. “That match that showed me we were starting to turn the corner.”

Next up was a quarterfinal showdown against archrival Venice, the reigning City champion. The teams had split a pair of Western League meetings last season and Saturday’s clash was a chance for both sides to  make an early statement heading into league play this week.

Palisades took the first set 25-18, Venice took the second 26-24 and  the Dolphins built an early lead in the first-to-15 points third set before hanging on to win, 15-12. The win was siginifcant because the Gondos had just avenged an earlier defeat to Taft, the preseason City favorite.       

Now the last City team standing, Palisades approached its semifinal match versus Palo Verde of Las Vegas with a nothing-to-lose attitude. The Dolphins put up a fight in the first set but were eliminated 25-19, 25-12. Palo Verde then lost to CIF Division III state champion Chino Hills in the championship match. Chino Hills knocked off Thousand Oaks in three sets in the semifinals.

Still, the Dolphins finished the 10th annual competition with a 7-2 record and won five of six matches against City opponents. Freshman outside hitter Annabelle Redaelli      made the All-Tournament team.

“This proves that when we play well we’re right there with the best teams in our section,” Gray said. “Venice will be hungry to beat us next time and in a three-out-of-five  set match anything can happen.”

Birmingham won the Silver Division and Kennedy won the Bronze.   

Palisades opened league action at Westchester on Wednesday.