Youth Serves for Pali High Volleyball

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The season begins today for the Palisades High girls volleyball team and for the first time in many years the Dolphins are not one of the favorites for the City Section title.

Head coach Carlos Gray has one of his most inexperienced groups yet and while the talent is there, the challenge will be finding the court symmetry necessary for a contender.

“We’re really young with four freshmen and three sophomores,” said Gray, who guided the Dolphins to a 34-8 record last fall. “We were in a scrimmage tournament Saturday with St. Monica, Viewpoint, Verdugo Hills and Chatsworth and it didn’t go anywhere near as planned. We have a long way to go!”

Ten players graduated from last year’s City semifinalist squad, including All-City setter and captain Kaia Kanan, All-City blocker Jamie Robertson and All-City libero Ella Madonna. The only seniors on this year’s roster are middle blocker/opposite Maddie Neilson, libero/outside hitter Erin Hogan and libero/defensive specialist Alida Zanettini. Opposite Carly Bloom, an All-City second teamer in 2021, and outside hitter Ava Pearce, both juniors, will pace the attack. Other juniors are outside hitter Alex Joannides, setter/defensive specialist Gaby Kawasaki and opposite hitter Brooke Stratton.

Rounding out the varsity squad  are10th-grader middle blockers Hazel Irving and Bianca Dolotta and setter Natalie Catapano; and four ninth-graders—outside hitter Lucy Neilson, opposites Gabriella Bartle and Annabelle Redaelli and setter Rowan Williams.

After hosting Crescenta Valley today the Dolphins will embark on a typically demanding journey that  includes nonleague matches at Eagle Rock and Viewpoint followed by three tournaments—Chatsworth (Aug. 26-27); Venice (Sept. 9-10); and CrescentaValley (Sept. 23-24).

Asked to name the teams to beat in the City this fall, Gray cited Taft and Granada Hills of the West Valley League. All six teams from that league made it into the eight-team Open bracket nine months ago.

Granada Hills upset the Dolphins in four sets in last season’s Final Four only five months after Palisades had swept the Highlanders for the title to cap off a 2020 campaign that was shortened and delayed until  spring 2021 due to the pandemic.    

Venice snapped the Dolphins’ 130-match Western League winning streak last fall on its way to capturing its first upper division crown and despite graduating City Player of the Year Daniella Kensinger, All-City middle blocker Rain Martinez and All-City setter Logan Takahashi, the Gondos will still be formidable.

“They’ve lost some good players but they’ll be tough,” said Gray, whose team has won at least a share of the league title 11 years in a row. “You have to be better in practice to be better in games. We have our work cut out for us.”