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By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
When the Suburban Valley Conference was formed at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, the La Mirada High and Norwalk High girls volleyball teams were situated in the Mid-Cities League. La Mirada went undefeated in league action and moved up to the Gateway League last season, then Norwalk won the Mid-Cities League last season to join the Matadores, and others, in the Gateway League for this season.
The Gateway League, with Downey High, Gahr High and Warren High as the other teams for girls volleyball this season, is projected to be one of the toughest in the CIF-Southern Section and Norwalk proved it has what it takes to be with the best. The Lancers outdueled their longtime and former Suburban League rivals in a thrilling 25-13, 21-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-9 match last Thursday in the league opener for both.
The match featured probably the tallest players in the league, led by La Mirada senior middle blocker Natalie Ojeisekhoba (6’2), Norwalk sophomore middle blocker Mirei Sanchez (6’1”), Norwalk senior middle blocker Samantha Munoz (5’11”) and three other starters standing at 5’9” tall.
“It was definitely a great match, both on Norwalk’s and La Mirada’s ends,” said Norwalk head coach Paola Nava. “Kudos to them; they have a really good strong front line out there, especially with Natalie. It’s something our girls kind of expected from the beginning, and I just told them we’re just here to play volleyball. Other teams are going to score on us, other teams are going to hit the ball on us. But it’s up to us what happens in the aftermath.”
La Mirada head coach Kimberly Mahan said the one thing that impressed her about Norwalk was its hitting.
“I think they were having issues passing like us,” said Mahan. “That’s what killed our game; passing, and we had a lot of missed serves and they had a lot of missed serve, too. But probably their hitting [impressed me]; they were hitting smart. Our defense wasn’t picking up their balls and receiving their balls.”
Serving, and serve receive, would dictate the winner of each set as the Lancers collected 11 aces in the opening set. They were up 8-7 before senior middle blocker Aleyah Davis knocked down her first two kills followed by three straight aces from senior opposite hitter Diana Avina. At the end of the first rotation, Sanchez had an ace to put the Lancers up 19-10.
Mahan has had to juggle her lineup around because of injuries. Sophomore outside hitter Keliana Gonzalez just came back and Mahan is trying to play her all the way around. But at the same time, Mahan is trying to work on who is the serve receive line, where the Matadores have struggled. Senior defensive specialist Iyleen Garcia just returned from an ankle injury and sophomore outside hitter Ahri Grayson are in the mix in the serve receive department.
“We’re just trying to regroup and figure out who can pass and who can’t pass,” said Mahan.
The Matadores bounced back in the second set and after a slow start to the match, Ojeisekhoba recorded seven kills in the set to bring her total to eight. There were six lead changes with the last coming very early in the second rotation when Ojeisekhoba’s sixth kill made it 14-13. The Matadores would score the next five points and despite a furious rally late by Norwalk, thanks to consecutive kills from senior opposite hitter Brenda Quezada, a serving error ended the net.
“In the second set, I thought we were playing our game, because in the first set, we came in almost scared,” said Mahan. “I think we knew we were starting league, and I had told them this isn’t going to be easy. All the teams are going to be tough, so I think they were a little nervous in the beginning. The second set was a lot better, but then we kind of went backwards.”
Nava made a significant lineup change after the second set, switching Munoz and junior libero Nayeli Sanchez in their serving order. Munoz had served third in the first two sets while Sanchez was the last server in the rotation.
“Sam’s IQ is there,” said Nava. “She knows a lot about the game, and she expects a lot from herself, and I think when things aren’t going her way, she does tend to get slightly frustrated. I wanted to open her up. She really wasn’t scoring for us or doing much for us in that middle when she was in row two.”
In the third set, Ojeisekhoba served five straight points to give La Mirada an early 10-7 advantage. But as was the case in the first set, Norwalk’s serving paved the way for the victory as it had eight aces, half of them coming from Quezada. A serving error tied the set at 15-15 and senior setter Zaidee Zepeda responded by serving three straight points. After Ojeisekhoba had a block, a kill from Quezada allowed her to serve three straight aces to put the set away.
“We do a lot of mental work, and I let these girls know, if we make errors on this endline, we’re not allowing ourselves to score,” said Nava. “It’s not about pacing them; it’s not about that ball hitting the floor on that first contact. It’s about giving ourselves that opportunity to score, and I think when they stay aggressive on the endline, they’re doing just that.”
The fourth set featured three ties and one lead change with the Matadores leading by no more than three points after the first rotation. But the fifth and deciding set was all Norwalk as Quezada served seven consecutive points after she tied it at 1-1 with her 13th kill.
“The fifth set is definitely something that Norwalk is known for,” said Nava. “But I think they pulled it off. The grit that they have and the eagerness for this new league is something that these girls are excited for, and I think today definitely showed that we’re here to play and we’re here to work hard.”
The Lancers are now 2-1 this season in five-set matches and 5-5 against La Mirada since 1999 when it has gone the distance.
Sanchez paced the Lancers with 16 kills followed by eight from Munoz and four each from Avina and Davis. Junior libero Nayeli Sanchez and Quezada had 17 and 12 digs, respectively and Zepeda had 42 assists.
“I don’t want to say she shocked us, but in a way, kind of shocked us,” said Nava of Davis. “Coach Enrique [Galicia] and I know Brenda and her mentality and she’s another play that expects a lot from herself. When she makes errors, she kind of lets them get to her. But this season, and I don’t know if it’s because it’s her senior season, but she really came out to dominate.”
“I think they have more options to go to for hitting,” said Mahan. “We’re kind of struggling because we have Natalie and Maleah. So, they have a better balance; they’re able to go to more players. They don’t have to go to [Sanchez].”
Ojeisekhoba led the Matadores with 14 kills and was the only player to have a positive hitting percentage. She added seven blocks while senior middle blocker Maleah Diaz led the way with eight blocks and senior outside hitter Geraldine Aiono pitched in with four blocks while senior setter Kiersten Mahan had 22 assists.
La Mirada entered the match having won the last six matches and nine of the last 10 against Norwalk with four coming in sweeps and four going the distance. Nava knows a lot about the rivalry, as she played for the purple and gold from 2013-2016.
“It definitely feels nice,” said Nava. “I think, even since I was a player at Norwalk High School, it was always that Norwalk-La Mirada High rivalry, and a lot of these girls know each other. So, it was fun to come out here and see their friends on the other side and compete and work hard.
“We talked to the girls after the match and we let them know this one is one and over with; we have seven more,” she later said. “I need them to not worry about this one anymore. I need them to worry about our next match. I [also] let them know La Mirada is not going to come out and hand us [a win] in round two. I let them know they’re going to come out hungry and we have to be ready for that.”
La Mirada hosted Gahr this past Tuesday and went the distance again, defeating the Gladiators 25-10, 24-26, 24-26, 25-15, 15-13 to improve to 9-8 overall, 1-1 in league. The Matadores will be off for a week when they will host Downey on Tuesday and wrap up the first round when they visit Warren on Thursday. The Lancers began the week at 10-10 and visited Warren on Sept. 19 before hosting Gahr on Thursday.
“I think league is going to be very, very competitive,” said Mahan. “I don’t think you can say who’s going to win or what. I told [my team] we’re going to go back to the drawing board, and we just need to play our game, but we also have to focus a lot on our passing and our defense.”
