Chemistry Is Key to Marymount Volleyball’s Success This Season

There is no shortage of talent at powerhouse volleyball programs like the one coach Cari Klein has built at Marymount High. While this year’s team certainly has its share of skilled players, what makes it extra special is an intangible: chemistry. No three girls reflect that more than senior Taylor Bantle and juniors Lanti Moye-McLaren and Christine Irvin, who have formed an unbreakable bond through years of playing together. All three graduated from Corpus Christi School and their symbiosis was on full display last Saturday as the Sailors beat Redlands East Valley, 25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 25-23 to win the CIF Southern Section Division I-A championship at Cypress College. “I’ve had talented teams before but this one is fun to coach and fun to be around because the players are so close to one another,” said Klein, also a Pacific Palisades resident. “It’s a really nice group of girls who genuinely love playing together–and it shows on the court.” Irvin and Moye-McLaren have shared many of the same classes and have long been teammates on their Sunshine Volleyball club team as well. A year older and a head taller, Bantle is the one the others look up to. “Taylor is that person who makes a kill no matter what,” said Moye-McLaren, who lived in Mandeville Canyon for four years and in Marquez Knolls for two more before moving to Bel Air to be closer to the Marymount campus. “She’s who we go to whenever we need a big point.” Bantle was an eighth-grader and Moye-McLaren and Irvin were seventh-graders on Corpus Christi’s 2006 squad that won the bronze medal in the Catholic Youth organization playoffs, coached by fellow Palisadian Haley Jorgensborg, a 1998 Corpus graduate who went on to play for Klein at Marymount and for two seasons at UCLA. “We always believe we are going to do it,” said Bantle, who can finally erase the memory of last season’s CIF quarterfinal loss to Huntington Beach. “We go into every match thinking that even if we get behind we can come back.” Bantle came up with one of her biggest points of the season late in the fourth set against Redlands East Valley. Klein had used up her allotment of legal substitutions, so Bantle had to serve with the Sailors clinging to a one-point lead. Despite not having toed the line all year, she hit an ace that pushed Marymount’s advantage to 23-21. Moye-McLaren’s clutch kill got the Sailors to match point at 24-23, then setter Lauren Fuller served an ace to end it. On defense, Irvin was all over the floor, digging balls to keep points alive and passing the team out of trouble. “If there’s a ball you think is going to drop, she always gets it up,” Bantle said of Irvin, a Highlands resident who follows in the footsteps of her sister Kelly (who captained Marymount to CIF and state wins, including its first Division I-A championship in 2006, before moving on to play at Virginia and USC) and brother Steven (who led Loyola High to back-to-back CIF titles and is now a freshman at Stanford). “Neither of them could make it [to the finals], but I got texts from both saying ‘Way to uphold the family tradition,'” Irvin said, laughing. “Yeah, they consider themselves good luck charms.” Outside hitter Moye-McLaren is one of the team’s kill leaders and her intensity rubs off on the other players. “Lanti is one of the best motivators on the team and she has a way of getting us all to play our best,” Irvin said of Moye-McLaren, who claims she is the only “athlete” in her family. “When we’re in a timeout or between games you can see she doesn’t want to lose.” Bantle, a middle blocker, lives near the Via bluffs and will play for Brown University next fall. She has two younger brothers–Jackson (a sophomore at Loyola who led his SCVC Quiksilver 15 spikers to a gold medal at the Junior Nationals in July) and Will (a sixth-grader at Corpus). Though she didn’t know the Sailors would be this strong when the season started, Bantle is not at all surprised they have gelled because “we are like a family.” In September, Marymount upset Harvard-Westlake–then the No. 1-ranked squad in Division I-AA–and Moye-McLaren realized her team’s potential. “That was the turning point,” she said. “We beat them in four [sets] and that’s when we knew we could be really good.” Having achieved their goal to win CIF, the Sailors are now in pursuit of the ultimate prize–the Division I state championship. That quest began on the road Tuesday night, when sixth-seeded Marymount traveled north to knock out No. 3 Bakersfield Centennial, 25-23, 27-25, 25-22, in the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs. “We don’t have that one super standout everyone’s talking about, who all the colleges are recruiting,” Klein said. “On our team it’s hard to tell who’s who. I just go with whoever is hot and it’s always someone different. This team just knows how to win.” Tuesday’s Centennial match was a perfect example. Klein used 12 players–a testament to the Sailors’ depth and their coach’s faith that each and every girl on the roster can contribute when called upon. “Taylor was always so quiet but she’s a workhorse and has really come into her own this year,” Klein said. “Lanti has a big serve and is a really well-rounded player and Christine moved from setter to defensive specialist and has done a great job. We wouldn’t be where we are without them.” On Saturday, the battle-tested Sailors (23-6) will try to upset top-seeded Long Beach Poly (36-2), the Southern Section Division I-AA winner, in the regional semifinals. Marymount has won multiple state championships but never in the CIF’s highest division. The Corpus Christi threesome hopes its team is the first. “We got moved up to D1 for state this year so we’re going to play some amazing teams,” Moye-McLaren said. “We’re the underdogs, but that will make it even better if we can pull it off.”

Pali Football Overcomes Early Deficit to Beat Lincoln, 43-28

By JAYANT SUBRAHMANYAM Special to the Palisadian-Post It was as if two different football teams showed up wearing Palisades High uniforms last Friday night at Stadium by the Sea. The first couldn’t get out of its own way in the first half. The second, however, resembled the team that Dolphins fans have become accustomed to seeing all season long–energetic, opportunistic and capable of scoring from anywhere at any time. The Dolphins overcame a 21-6 halftime deficit to power past Lincoln, 43-28, in the first round of the City Section Division II playoffs–Palisades’ first postseason triumph since 1999. “The first half–that wasn’t us,’ Palisades running back Hakeem Jawanza said. “Coach told us, ‘Okay, you got all the nervousness out, now just go out and play.’ And that’s what we did.” Playing their first playoff home game since a 42-14 loss to L.A. Marshall in 2006, the Dolphins immediately dug themselves a hole. Using a varied passing attack, 10th-seeded Lincoln (9-2) methodically marched down the field on its opening possession and scored on James Orozco’s one-yard touchdown run with 2:42 left in the first quarter. Palisades almost answered right away, but receiver Ben Ingram took his eyes off the ball at the last second and dropped a sure touchdown. Undaunted, the Dolphins pulled within 7-6 on Jawanza’s 50-yard run with 9:40 left in the second quarter, but kicker Alex Anastasi missed the extra point. A botched snap on a punt attempt gave seventh-seeded Palisades (6-5) a chance to take the lead at the Tigers’ 35-yard line, but the Dolphins failed to pick up a first down. Lincoln tacked on two touchdowns in the last 30 seconds of the half–the first on Carlos Duran’s 11-yard reception from Brandon Lopez and the second on Andrew Medrano’s 23-yard pass from Lopez just 20 seconds later–and Palisades trudged to the locker room down by 15 points. “Losing the Westchester game the week before actually gave me a concrete example of what we needed to do that we weren’t doing,” Palisades coach Perry Jones said. “First and foremost, we weren’t stopping them. We had to make some adjustments defensively. On offense we simply didn’t have the ball enough. They were smart to use up most of the clock.” Jones must have given his players quite a halftime pep talk because the Dolphins began the second half with renewed energy and determination. It began with running back Malcolm Creer’s electrifying touchdown run 13 seconds into the third quarter that ignited the home crowd and got Palisades back into the game. “In the beginning it felt like any other game,” Jawanza recalled. “At halftime, though, we realized that it could be our last game and we had to come out ready. They started using me to block the linebacker, which gave Kemonte [Reed] space to make the pitch and from that point on it was ours.” With 8:24 left in the third quarter, linebacker Victor Garcia scooped up a Lincoln fumble and ran 47 yards for a touchdown. Then, Creer leaped high in the end zone to make the two-point conversion catch that tied the game. On the Dolphins’ next possession, Creer busted loose for a 50-yard touchdown that gave Palisades its first lead. The Tigers pulled even at 28-28 on a five-yard quarterback keeper by Lopez and the outcome was in doubt going into the final quarter. Palisades had seized the momentum, however, and when Jawanza scored his second touchdown on a 20-yard run to give the Dolphins a 35-28 lead with 10:30 left, it was clear that their wishbone attack was tiring out Lincoln’s defense. Palisades would have padded its lead had a series of penalties not nullified several long runs. Creer plowed through the line from two yards out for his third touchdown and Kevin Mann threw to fellow receiver Jack Gelber for the two-point conversion that closed out the scoring with 6:14 remaining. ‘This was a character win for us because we played a good team,’ Jones said. ‘But now it’s on to the next one.’

Jacklyn Bamberger remembers her freshman year all too well. She was the fastest qualifier heading into the City Section cross country championships last fall, only to finish in third place. Disappointed with that result, she adopted a new strategy for 2010: gear her training for the finals. There was to be no sophomore slump for Palisades High’s frontrunner, who coolly overcame a competitive field and adverse weather conditions to win the large school division girls’ cross championship last Saturday at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. Early morning rains delayed the start and left the dirt switchbacks too wet and slippery, so meet officials moved the races off the hills and measured out a six lap, 2.8-mile circular route around the parking lot and football stadium. “Last year was a learning experience,” Bamberger said. “I ran too hard at [City] prelims and ended up third in City, so I decided to save myself this time and just run for fun.” The strategy worked to perfection, as Bamberger went out with the lead group, lagged just off the pace for the first two laps, took the lead on the third lap and was never challenged. She cruised to the finish line in 18:46.61, almost five full seconds in front of runner-up Evelyn Gonzalez, a junior from San Pedro. Not even the last-minute course change could detour Bamberger, who has already won two section titles in one and a half years of high school competition. In the spring, she won the varsity 3200 at the City track and field finals. “I knew something was up when I saw all the coaches huddle together, talking about how slick the course was,” Bamberger said. “I didn’t know if the weather would be an advantage or a disadvantage, but we all had to run the same course, so I took that approach.” With last weekend’s resounding victory, Bamberger automatically qualified for Saturday’s state finals at Woodward Park in Fresno. She will be joined by two Palisades teammates, Grant Stromberg and Drake Johnston, who qualified in the boys’ large school race. Stromberg, the Dolphins’ top runner, turned it on late as he typically does, reaching the chute just before Omar Cortes of Santee and holding him off in an all-out sprint through the final yards to take second in 15:36.34. “I wasn’t going to let him pass me,” Stromberg said, trying to catch his breath. Palisades’ junior captain improved 18 places from last year’s effort, when he started in the middle of the pack and picked off tiring runners on the final hill to finish 20th in 16:05, falling a few spots short of a state berth despite running the eight fastest time for a 10th grader in finals history. Johnston, meanwhile, was eighth in a clocking of 16:02.97 and earned his first trip to the state meet. Last year, he ran the ninth-fastest race ever by a freshman at City finals. Senior Mizrael Mendez of Birmingham won in 15:21:02. Rounding out Palisades’ team were senior Danny Escalante (17:17.33), freshman Jonathon Tewodros (17:43.26), junior Nick Wong (17:47:40), sophomore Liam Palladino (18:25. 86) and Austin Gelber (18:31.28). Birmingham finished first and San Pedro second in both the boys’ and girls’ team competitions. Chapus Wins Division IV Race Palisadian and Harvard-Westlake High junior Cami Chapus won the Southern Section Division IV girls’ cross country title last Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut. Chapus, one of the Palisadian-Post’s top athletes of the year in 2009 after winning the state individual title and leading the Wolverines to the team championship, finished the flat rain course in 18:41, well in front of runner-up Kelliann Hunt of Whittier Christian. sports@palipost.com

Robert Feathers, a senior standout on the Loyola High volleyball team who has grown up in Pacific Palisades and attended Corpus Christi School, signed a national letter of intent with USC last week. Feathers has led Loyola to back-to-back CIF and state championships and was named to the All-CIF Division I First Team last spring. He has earned five Junior Olympic medals with first the Pacific Palisades Volleyball Club and, more recently, on the Manhattan Beach Surf Volleyball Club, which he led to the gold medal in the 18 Open Division last summer at the USA Junior National Championships in Texas. The 6′ 8″ middle blocker has played on USA Volleyball’s Youth and National training teams and was named the tournament’s best blocker while leading the winning white team at the 2008 Boys International Youth High Performance Championships. Locals Spike Ivy League Honors Three of this year’s eight first team All-Ivy League women’s volleyball players hail from Pacific Palisades. All three played for Sunshine and Sports Shack club teams. Princeton middle hitter Cathryn Quinn led her position in kills, blocks ands points per set. She played at St. Matthew’s and on Harvard-Westlake High’s 2007 state championship squad. Penn libero Madison Wojciechowski, who won the state championship at Marymount High, led the Ivy League in digs while Yale right side hitter Bridget Hearst won a CIF championship at Notre Dame Academy in 2005. Hargrave Earns AVCA Honorable Mention Drew Hargrave, a sophomore outside hitter at Washington University in St. Louis, was sn honorable mention selection to the American Volleyball Coaches Association team last week. Ranking third on her team with 359 kills and a .313 percentage, the Palisadian and All-CIF player at Brentwood School is averaging 3.09 kills per set and was named to the Bears Classic and Washington University Invitational All-Tournament team this year. Edel Wins 100 IM in Middlebury Meet Middlebury College freshman Alexandra Edel, a former standout at Harvard-Westlake High, won the 100 individual medley with a time of 1:03.14 at last Sunday’s dual swim meet against Springfield College in Massachusetts.

Lakers Great Jerry West Discusses Basketball, Golf and Life at Riviera

How can a man who has accomplished so much have so much humility? That was the question being asked by those who attended the Chamber of Commerce’s annual General Membership Breakfast last Friday at Riviera Country Club, where Los Angeles Lakers great Jerry West spoke for 45 minutes about his childhood, his career, life after basketball and his role as Executive Director of the Northern Trust Open. “I set lofty goals for myself–I always have,” said the 72-year-old Hall-of-Famer, who was known as “Mr. Clutch” and whose silhouette became the NBA logo. “My goal right now is to get this golf tournament back to where it used to be.” West is all too familiar with Riviera’s historic course. He’s played it many times and he bought a house on Capri Drive in 1973, near legendary Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully. “I loved the place so much that I sold it in a year,” he joked. His best round at Riviera was a 67, which he shot “ages” ago, and West believes that golf tests one’s resolve “more than any other sport.” As he did at last year’s breakfast when Lakers Executive Vice President Jeanie Buss was the guest speaker, Pacific Palisades resident Sam Lagana introduced the NBA legend to the audience and presented a slide show with highlights from West’s magnificent career. When he stepped to the podium, West spoke about growing up as a shy, soft-spoken boy in West Virginia who had few friends, how basketball became his passion and how his brother’s death caused him to play with “a chip on my shoulder and a hole in my heart.” Asked how the Lakers will fare this season in their quest for a third straight championship, West said it’s too early to tell. “We’ll find that out in the playoffs, but they are big and talented and they are the favorites,” he claimed. “I think the only team that has a chance is Boston. Miami will get better. They have two of the best players in the game [Dwyane Wade and LeBron James], but they’re not very big.” West wanted to be a spokesperson for the Northern Trust Open because of his desire to give something back to the city that has embraced him and made him an iconic figure. In fact, a bronze statue of West will be unveiled at Staples Center on December 20–recognition for which he is “deeply honored,” though he struggles to understand it. “My pro career was a blur,” said West, who remains the only player from a losing team to be named Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals. “I’ll say this much, I learned more life lessons from losing. Sitting in the locker room after losing in the finals… it’s hell.” West, who played at West Virginia University and led the Mountaineers to the NCAA championship game in 1959, still holds the NBA record for most points averaged in a playoff series (46.3), even more impressive given that there was no three-point shot in his era. In reference to the college game, West strongly believes players today should either be allowed to enter the NBA right out of high school or be required to play at least two years in college. Known for his intelligence on the court, West said strategy is a huge part of any team’s success and that if he was an owner, the first question he would ask a coach he was looking to hire is what the coach would do if his team was ahead by three points with a few seconds left in the game. “There are two philosophies,” West explained. “You can foul immediately or let them go for a three-pointer to tie. The odds are really with you if you foul in that situation because even if they make the free throws, you still have the lead. Yet I’m shocked how many coaches instruct their players not to foul.” West became a creature of habit during his career: “For 14 years I did the same thing every day. I took the same freeways to the game, woke up at the same time, ate the same foods. I had a set routine from which I never deviated.” Now, 36 years after his retirement, the agony and frustration of losing in the finals eight times–including six times to the Boston Celtics–still resonates. “I took the losses really hard,” he admitted. “So much so that when we finally won it was difficult to enjoy it.” West is considered the best shooting guard of his generation. He was the catalyst on one of the greatest teams in NBA history–the Lakers’ 1971-72 squad that won a record 33 games in a row and finished 69-13 on its way to winning the franchise’s first championship since relocating from Minneapolis in 1960. “Everyone played together, everyone knew their role,” West said, recalling the only championship team he played on with the Lakers. “In fact, there were very few close games during that streak. The one thing I wish is that Elgin [Baylor] was still with us at the end. He retired when we were 5-4 that season.” Asked to name the highlight of his basketball career, West pinpointed winning the Olympic gold medal in 1960 on a squad anchored by he and Oscar Robertson and coached by the legendary Pete Newell. “Pete [Newell] was like a father to me, so that was very special,” West said. “Oscar and I were the captains, we went undefeated and won by an average of 42 points per game.” West cited the 1980s “Showtime” Lakers as the best teams he’s ever seen and while many experts regard he and Magic Johnson as the best players ever to wear the purple and gold, West puts Kobe Bryant in a class by himself. “Kobe is the greatest Laker who ever played,” West said of the player who supplanted him as the Lakers’ all-time scoring leader last season. “I don’t think so, I know so!” A smart, introspective and complex individual, West has never forgotten where he came from. He is a voracious reader and in times of uncertainty he turns to the written word for inspiration and guidance. “When I get down I have a packet of quotes from famous people,” said West, who lives in Bel Air but also has a home in West Virginia, where he spends three months a year. “The greatest document ever written was the Declaration of Independence, but if I had to recommend two books to read they would be ‘The Four Agreements’ and ‘The Noticer.'” Two years after retiring, West coached the Lakers for three seasons, then served as a scout for three more before being named General Manager in 1982. The Lakers won seven league titles under his direction, though West credits owner Jerry Buss for the team’s success. When Lagana asked who West most wanted to see walking up to Riviera’s hallowed 18th green with a chance to win the Northern Trust Open next February, West answered Rickie Fowler and Tiger Woods. “Rickie is such a likeable young man who I believe has a brilliant career ahead of him and of course Tiger is an absolute genius. Given everything he’s had to deal with this year, I’d love to see him win it.” Before leaving, West thanked his audience for listening and implored everyone to give back, because “to lead is to serve.” “I’ve made more mistakes than anyone in this room, believe me,” he concluded. “But if there’s one piece of advice I can give you it’s to use your talents to help others, because talent is a terrible thing to waste.” As much as any star athlete ever has, West exemplifies strength through humbleness. He has dished out more than his share of assists in this game of life… and as he showed last Friday, he’s got plenty more to give.

The Palisades High girls’ varsity volleyball team took on a familiar foe in the City Section Division II semifinals on Tuesday night and got redemption–and a berth in the championship match. The third-seeded Dolphins traveled to second-seeded Venice and upset the Gondoliers, 25-16 25-20, 16-25, 25-22, to advance to the finals Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Roybal Learning Center. “This is the best we’ve played all season,” Palisades Coach Chris Forrest said. “For three of the four games we were at a really high level. We served well and concentrated on what their block was doing.” Venice defeated Palisades twice in Western League play to earn the higher seed, but the Dolphins dominated their third meeting from the start. Molly Kornfeind and Shanna Scott each had 15 kills and Jennifer Krems contributed four solo and six assisted blocks for Palisades (22-7-2). “Pali is finally healthy and it showed on the court,” Venice Coach Allen Hunt said. “They played fantastic and I wish them the best in the finals. We competed well in sets two, three and four but if those two outside hitters play the way they played tonight, Pali will be hard to stop.” The Dolphins will face fourth-seeded Sun Valley Poly in the finals. The Parrots ((27-5) upset top-seeded Woodland Hills Taft, 25-21, 26-24, 16-25, 25-18 in Tuesday’s other semifinal. Palisades hosted sixth-seeded Eagle Rock in the quarterfinals last Wednesday. The Northern League champion Eagles put forth a gutsy effort, but the Dolphins prevailed in four sets, 25-15, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19.

All season long, the Palisades High girls’ tennis team was on track for a City championship showdown with Granada Hills, the team that eliminated it last last fall. However, the Dolphins’ express train was derailed one stop short of the finals, as El Camino Real pulled off a 4-3 upset Monday, bringing an abrupt end to Palisades’ season. The second-seeded Dolphins (13-3) got off to a slow start, falling behind by three points. Malina Loeher and Dalia Shamsian notched Palisades’ first point with a 6-3, 6-1 victory at No. 1 doubles and Katie Takakjian and Charlotte Farrant won 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 to finish the season undefeated in team competition for the second straight year. “I knew they must have a good singles lineup because they got three players into the Individual tournament,” Palisades Coach Sean Passan said. “They also have the doubles champions from last year, so I expected a tough match.” Despite being the lower seed, the No. 3 Conquistadores got to play on their home courts in Woodland Hills because there were not enough courts available at the Palisades Recreation Center for Palisades to host the match. The teams were supposed to play last Friday, but both mistakenly traveled to the other school. El Camino Real (10-4) earned its decisive fourth point when senior Denise Poltavski beat Samantha Kogan, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2, at No. 1 singles. Palisades’ Emily Wettleson and Julie Takakjian rallied from 1-4 down in the first set to win 7-6 (2), 6-1 at No. 3 doubles in the final match. “I don’t deal with ‘what ifs,'” Passan said. “It was windier on Friday than it was today, so if anything this was better. We just had a bad day and it’s really disappointing because this makes two years in a row we’ve lost 4-3 in the semifinals.” Palisades defeated Eagle Rock, 6-1, in the quarterfinals last Tuesday, as Kogan outlasted Eagles’ No. 1 player Nicole Kim, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 in a match that took over two and a half hours. Jessie Corneli, Perri Zaret and Katie Vincent also won their singles matches. sports@palipost.com