The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
With the playoffs providing a new set of challenges – the Millikan girls volleyball team stuck to their game plan on Wednesday night.
From the opening set, the Rams dominated the entire match sweeping Summit 25-18, 25-22, 25-13 in the opening round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.
“We were really able to execute the game plan,” Millikan coach Antoinette De la Espriella said. “There wasn’t too much time to scout your opponent in the playoffs. But the girls have been working all season long at preparing themselves to scout and watch film and being able to execute a game plan.”
The Rams will be on the road for their next match when they head to Sun Valley to take on Village Christian, the second place finisher out of the Olympic League.
After three ties to start the match, senior Bethany Arnold got her first two kills to tie the match and then extend the lead to 6-4. Aubrey Greene followed that up with an ace and another kill from Arnold pushed the lead to 9-4.
“During league we’re able to practice coming together,” Arnold said. “It trained us to be resilient.”
Millikan got a big lift from all over the court as Cheyenne Lander, Willow Lebron and Natasha Willaert put kills away for point as the Rams extended the lead to 18-10 before taking the 25-18 win.
In the second set, Millikan got off to a fast start and took advantage of some Summit hitting struggles as they were able to take a 15-6 lead. However, Summits kept battling with some help from Aubrey Hagood and Kailynn Jackson who helped the SkyHawks go on a 7-0 lead to cut Millikan’s lead to 15-13.
Later in the set, Tylia Hemmans got back-to-back kills to tie the match 21-21. But Millikan was able to regroup as they went on a 4-1 run to take the set and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
After their second set scare, Millikan got back to their game plan as they jumped out to a 15-3 lead in the third set.
“We had a trust in each other,” Walters said about the Rams rallying and then getting off to a fast start in the third set. “We kept everything the same and just knowing that I can always go back to my hitters and they will get the point. Our chemistry works really well and in those times we are able to persevere and put it away.”
The Rams pushed it to 21-8 before Summit chipped away and cut the lead to 22-13 before Millikan finished the match off. Walters had 28 assists, while Arnold had a team-high nine kills in the win for the Rams.
“We need to keep the energy high,” Arnold said the team needs to do to keep their playoff run going. “Keep up our cheering, and just keep being big, swinging away, and trying to play as hard as we can.”
