Pali High Spikers Sweep By LACES

Complacency.

That's what every coach warns his or her team about, and yet it's hard to avoid when matches are as one-sided as they have been lately for the girls volleyball team this season. However, the Dolphins have shown no signs of it so far.

Palisades began the second round of play Wednesday afternoon against Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies and the second verse was the same as the first: Dolphins domination. They swept the Unicorns 25-17, 25-6, 25-10, nearly identical set scores to those in the schools' first meeting Sept. 21 at Palisades.

Even without two of its best players (Shanna Scott is still out with a muscle tear and Molly Kornfeind was sick), the Dolphins made short work of host LACES, which remained winless in league. Junior outside hitter Katie Kaufman ended the match with an uncontested kill.

"I'll be surprised if we lose a set [in league]," Coach Chris Forrest said. "We've seen all the teams now and we haven't really been tested. At this point, it's all about making sure that we're at our best for the playoffs."

Sophomore opposte hitter Caroline Grande paced the Dolphins' attack against LACES with nine kills, senior libero Maddie Hausberg had 16 digs and Palisades served 25 aces.

"Maddie [Hausberg] did a great job in the back row today," Forrest said. "We'll get the final word on Shanna [Scott] Oct. 25. She's got a Level 1 or 2 muscle tear (Level 3 being the most severe), but we may get her back then—earlier than I thought. And Molly [Kornfeind] was feeling sick so I told her to stay home and rest."  

It was no surprise that LACES offered little resistance, but Forrest was hoping his team would get better competition Monday in its nonleague match at San Pedro, which plays in the City Section's Division I bracket for the playoffs (Palisades is in Division II).

No such luck, as Palisades powered past the host Pirates, 25-19, 25-14, 25-15. Kornfiend had nine kills, Hausberg had 10 digs and the Dolphins served 19 points against a normally strong Marine League squad that is suffering through a down season.

"We won easily and unfortunately, they did not give us much of a fight," Forrest said. "Most of their points were our errors as a result of playing down to a team. They had a decent setter and one good [opposite] hitter."

Palisades' best matches have been in tournaments, where they have suffered all but one of their losses (the other was a four-set defeat to Marlborough of the . The Dolphins (12-7 overall, 7-0 in league) resume league play Monday at archrival Venice. The Gondos were swept 25-10, 25-8, 25-18 in under an hour in the teams' first meeting.

The Dolphins' junior varsity team also continues to excel under Coach Giulio Montalto, easily beating the Unicorns 25-9, 25-17 Wednesday.

Palisades' JV, which won the Venice Tournament earlier in the season, finished fifth at the Valencia Tournament two weeks ago and claimed its second title last Saturday at the Sylmar Tournament.

The Dolphins dropped only one game in seven matches, splitting games with Burbank Burroughs in pool play, then downing Taft, Culver City and Sun Valley Poly to advance to the elimination round. After beating El Camino Real 25-16, the Dolphins upset top-seeded Gabrielino 25-5 in the semifinals, setting up a rematch with Burroughs. In the one-set final, Palisades prevailed 25-22.

Lucy Polhill and Taylor Pecsok each made the All-Tournament team.

Set Scores

1

2

3

4

5

Final

Palisades

25

25

25

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3

LACES

17

6

10

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0

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