Pali High Coach Carlos Gray assesses his team’s performance against Taft.
Before the season began, Palisades High girls volleyball coach Carlos Gray said the ceiling was “very high” for his team.
In last Thursday’s season opener against Taft the Dolphins showed glimpses of what they could look like come November and while Gray wasn’t jumping through the roof after Palisades’ 25-21, 25-10, 25-21 victory, he’ll take a win over a loss any day.
“You could tell it was the first match of the year and we had a lot of jitters,” Gray said. “I thought we played well in spurts. I think our consistency will come in time. I wasn’t displeased but I wasn’t over the moon either. We’ve got some work to do.”
Making an impact on offense was Bella Edwards in her first official match for Palisades.
“I had a few butterflies but we wanted to come out and make a statement,” Edwards said. “We need to work on making less errors. If we play clean we’re unstoppable.”
The challenge Gray’s counterpart Arman Mercado faced heading into the season was finding a way to overcome the loss of 14 players to graduation.
The reigning City Section Division II champion Toreadors moved up to Division I this year, meaning they could potentially meet Palisades again in the playoffs. So the match was an early measuring stick for both sides.
“We know we have a tough mountain to climb and we knew this would be a tough match,” Mercado said. “Pali returns five starters and they have a great libero. We don’t have the net play right now. It’s hard to lose that experience we had, but these girls play hard and that’s what every coach asks for.”
Seven of Taft’s seniors last year made the City finals four consecutive times.
“I’m always honest with the girls about where we are,” Mercado said. “The bar right now is Palisades, Carson, Granada Hills and El Camino Real. You have to beat two of them to get to the finals and three of them to win it.”
After rolling in the second set, the defending City Division I champion Dolphins fell behind 5-0 in the third before taking their first lead at 9-8 on a kill by Edwards. Taft battled back to go ahead 16-15, but back-to-back kills by Edwards and another by Isabel Kelly gave Palisades a two-point lead.
The Toreadors tied it 20-20 before Palisades won five of the last six points, including a spike by Sadie Gray on match point, to complete the sweep.
“They beat us in our own house last year and it had an effect on our seeding,” she said. “It took awhile but once we got our rhythm there wasn’t much of a block.”
Pali High setter Delaney Arth talks about sweeping Taft in the season opener.
“It was very fun to start off the season in such a great way,” Dolphins All-City setter Delaney Arth said. “The last two comparatively we’d been in a much different place, we had a lower starting point. To start off on such a great note shows we have the ability to work together. We have that cohesion that’s so important.”
Palisades libero Olivia Zelon closed out the second set on an eight-point serving run. Edwards ended the first set with a kill after the Toreadors crept within 24-21 on a kill by Nigina Abdul.
“We’ve got an athletic, physical team but I’d like to see a little more execution,” Gray said. “We’re very boom or bust right now. Either we make a great play where everyone goes “Oooh!” or we make an error in a critical situation.”
Edwards, Kelly, Sadie Gray, Taylor Slutzker, Sarah Hurst, Angel Echipue, Abbey Kearney and Kiana Ferguson led the Dolphins’ attack.
“We did have a lot of what I’d call unforced errors… we had our highs and lows,” Arth said. “So moving forward we have be more consistent and positive but our energy was really good.”
Senior outside hitter Nigina Abdul had 12 kills and setter Gisele Pinedo had 28 assists for the host Toreadors (2-6).
Zelon finished with six aces for the Dolphins, who open Western League play next Tuesday against LACES and host Granada Hills the following day in a rematch of last year’s City final, which Palisades won in four sets.
“Taft and Granada Hills… they are both quality programs,” Coach Gray said. “Arman’s a great coach so this kind of match only helps us. The West Valley League is always strong. We want to play the best the City has to offer early on and that way we can measure ourselves.”
— Steve Galluzzo
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