Lakewood, Long Beach Poly, Millikan and St. Anthony’s girls’ volleyball teams all got off to excellent starts in the last two weeks.
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The Lancers took second place at the Tae Kim Molten Classic after falling to Redondo Union in the championship match in five sets. The Lancers are undersized compared to the Sea Hawks and lost their starting middle blocker to injury early in the contest but battled back in a way that impressed head coach Mike Wadley.
“We’re trying to outlast teams, not outhit them,” said Wadley.
That scrappy attitude is sparked by the team’s senior leaders, Julia Crawford and Moni Vivao. Crawford, the younger sister of Lakewood stars JP and Eliza, had 31 kills and 11 digs to earn Tournament MVP honors while Vivao (a UC Santa Barbara commit) had 45 assists and 17 digs.
Poly was knocked out of the Molten Classic semifinals by Redondo, but had some impressive results to get to that point, including a five-set win over Los Alamitos earlier in the week that saw Allanah Cutler post 23 kills, three aces and eight digs, and setter Liz Schuster made 45 assists and 10 digs. Freshman Adonia Faumuina had 18 kills in the win.
Millikan finished as the consolation champions of the Molten Classic, led by hitters Mina Barajas and Annie Guthmann. Anna Becker led the team in assists while Julia Campbell led in digs.
“I’m so proud of what we have displayed early in the season,” said coach Jan Green. “We still have a lot of work to do but I think this team is up for the challenge.”
The consolation bracket title was the Rams’ first varsity trophy in four years.
St. Anthony improved to 8-0 on the season with a perfect 6-0 performance at the Pius Matthias Tournament to claim the trophy. The Saints topped Rolling Hills Prep in the title.
