By Loren Kopff
When it comes to Olympic League girls volleyball, nothing ever comes easy for Valley Christian as almost every season, many of its matches tend to go the full five sets. Such was the case this past Tuesday night as the Lady Crusaders stayed in the hunt for second place with a comeback win over visiting Maranatha.
Behind 22 kills from senior middle blocker Amanda Chamberlain and 16 more from junior opposite hitter Karly Dantuma, V.C. knocked off the Minutemen 25-20, 26-28, 23-25, 25-23, 15-9 to improve to 18-5 overall and 3-2 in the league. It was the second time this season that V.C. has gone the distance with Maranatha, winning on the road on Oct. 3. In addition, V.C. and Maranatha have played in eight five-game matches since 2002, tied for the most against a league opponent for the Lady Crusaders. V.C. has also taken Village Christian to five sets eight times since 2002.
Senior outside hitter Maggie Streelman, who recently returned to action after missing a good chunk of the season due to an injury, pitched in with 12 kills. V.C., the seventh ranked team in the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division II-A coaches top 10 poll, hosted fifth ranked Village Christian on Oct. 24 and will participate in the Marlborough Tournament on Saturday. The Lady Crusaders will then wrap up the regular season with a road trip to Heritage Christian on Tuesday and a home encounter with top ranked Whittier Christian on Wednesday.
In other girls volleyball action, Artesia remained the Suburban League’s lone winless team after John Glenn swept the Pioneers 25-22, 25-13, 25-21 this past Tuesday. Artesia (1-11, 0-8) will host Mayfair on Thursday. Cerritos swept Bellflower 25-14, 25-13, 25-12 last Thursday to improve to 9-8 overall and 5-2 in league. The Lady Dons visited La Mirada on Oct. 24 in a battle for second place. After this past Tuesday’s action, La Mirada and Mayfair were tied for second place with 6-2 marks while Cerritos was right behind the two. Cerritos will visit Norwalk on Tuesday and host John Glenn on Thursday.
After a stunning five-set upset loss to Lynwood last Thursday, Gahr rebounded to defeat Warren 21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-18 this past Tuesday to improve to 7-13 overall and 2-3 in the San Gabriel Valley League. Gahr’s loss to Lynwood was the first time against the Knights since 1985 when Gahr and Lynwood, coached by Carl Buggs at that time, were co-league champions. The Gladiators will visit league-leading Downey on Tuesday for its only match next week.
John Glenn (6-16, 2-6) will host La Mirada on Thursday while Whitney dropped to Academy League frontrunner Sage Hill this past Wednesday. The Lady Wildcats fell to 7-8 overall and 5-4 in the league. Whitney will host second place Crean Lutheran this evening.
FOOTBALL
Artesia gets back into action tonight when it hosts Bellflower in a crucial Suburban League contest. The Pioneers are 4-3 overall and 1-2 in the circuit while Bellflower is 2-2 in the league and in fourth place. Gahr will host Downey tonight in its final home game as well as its homecoming game. The Gladiators were blanked by Paramount 31-0 last Friday and fell to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in league action. Valley Christian (2-5, 1-0) gets back into Olympic League play tonight with a home game against Village Christian. Valley Christian lost to San Diego County power Francis Parker 46-7 last Friday night.
