Spikers Survive Marshall Scare

Dolphins Blow Two-Game Lead but Recover to Win Second Round Match

It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. Not this early anyway. The Palisades High boys’ volleyball team learned a valuable lesson Tuesday night against Los Angeles Marshall–when you have the momentum, don’t let it slip away. Up two games to zero, the Dolphins were cruising to an easy victory in their second round City playoff match when all of a sudden a few service errors and mental mistakes allowed the visiting Barristers back in the match. From there, it was nip and tuck but Palisades finally, nearly two and a half hours later, escaped with a 25-11, 25-23, 29-31, 21-25, 15-9 victory. “It sure helps to have homecourt advantage,” Pali Coach Chris Forrest said afterwards. “Hopefully we realize now that you can’t underestimate anybody. This is the playoffs. Every team wants to win. I hope we don’t have another match like this!” Hitter Adam Cristiano ended the first game with an ace and setter Scott Vegas’ alert “quick” gave Palisades a seemingly insurmountable lead. At 13-13 the third game became an epic struggle, with the Dolphins having two match points and saving three game points before Marshall extended the match with a kill. Hanley’s ace off the back line gave Palisades a 11-5 lead in the shorter fifth game and the Dolphins closed out the victory soon after. Palisades was the No. 2 seed behind Chatsworth in the 32-team tournament, meaning the Dolphins will have home matches all the way through the playoffs. At times, however, it was hard to tell which team was the higher seed on Tuesday. Jordan Cohen, normally a hitter, stepped in to play the libero position for the Dolphins and passed expertly most of the match, feeding Vegas, Cristiano, Matt Hanley, Kene Izuchukwu, Noah Kauss and Ross Lipschultz for offensive attacks. “I play libero during club season so I’m capable of doing it and that’s where the team needed me today,” Cohen said. “I was just taking all the balls I possibly could and playing with energy.” Cohen and his teammates know they can’t afford to overlook any opponent on their way to the City finals. Last Thursday’s first round match was much easier–a three-game sweep of No. 31 Cleveland. “It’s going to get harder every match,” Cohen said. “We know that. The important thing is that everyone stepped up when they needed to in that fifth game. We got our confidence back.” The Dolphins will host 10th-seeded Taft in the quarterfinals tonight at 7 p.m. Ross Lipschultz gets fired up after a stuff block Tuesday against Marshall. Palisades won in five games and advanced to tonight’s quarterfinals.