Photo: Steve Galluzzo
Thirteen proved to be the magic number for Palisades High’s girls volleyball team in last Thursday’s City Section Open Division playoff opener versus Chatsworth.
All three sets were deadlocked at 13-13 before the fourth-seeded Dolphins took the lead for good on their way to a 25-19, 25-14, 25-16 quarterfinal sweep that left Chancellors coach Sina Aghassy shaking his head.
“Teams tend to serve tougher at home,” said Aghassy, whose team almost beat the Dolphins in pool play at its own tournament Sept. 1. “When things are going bad you start to question yourself. I tried calling timeouts to slow things down and break their rhythm but to their credit they played clean volleyball.”
Palisades traveled to top-seeded Granada Hills on Tuesday with the winner advancing to the championship match against Carson or Taft on Saturday night at Birmingham High.
“It feels really good… there was some uncertainty and I might not be at the top of my game right now, but I’m grateful and happy to be back,” said senior captain Alex Laita, who returned from injury just before the playoffs. “It’s been tough watching my team play when I couldn’t join in. There was a lot of doubt with my knee but it’s all healed up. We lost a lot of seniors from last year, but the only reason we lost [in the finals] was because of mental toughness so we’ve been working on being good in tight situations.”
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