Brentwood School's girls volleyball team won the Saturday at Cypress College, thanks in large part to the contributions of seven Palisadians.
The Eagles, coached by Jeff Porter, ended the season on a hot streak, winning their last seven matches, including a 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 sweep of Rim of the World from Lake Arrowhead in the finals. Brentwood finished third in the , but swept defending 3A champion Campbell Hall in the semifinals--a team the Eagles lost to twice in league play. In fact, the Eagles have won 21 of their last 22 sets.
Rachel Enzer, a junior middle blocker for the Eagles, played at with junior hitters Molly Kornfeind and Shanna Scott and they won the league championship in seventh grade. Enzer also played with Eagles teammate Jackie Bowman and Pali High's Katie Kaufman on the same team.
Bowman, a junior setter/opposite hitter, has played for Sunshine for eight years and attended . She has signed to play for Boston College.
Two other local juniors on the varsity team play for --outside hitter Claire Oliva and defensive specialist Juliana Bond. Another Palisadian, sophomore outside/opposite hitter Jahan Nanji, plays club for Sport Shack.
Also living in are two of the Eagles' six seniors, setter Brenna Tharnstrom, who played for Southern California Volleyball Club last year, and libero/outside hitter Jocelyn Caster, who has played for Sunshine in the past and Santa Monica Beach Club last year.
Residing on the Palisades-Brentwood border in is senior outside/opposite hitter Virginia James, who also plays for Sport Shack. Two girls hail from Santa Monica, senior outside hitter Nathalie Simon (who played for SCVC last year) and senior libero/defensive specialist Maddi Siegel.
Sophomore middle blocker Katie Russell lives in Bel Air, plays for Sunshine and attended Archer Middle School. Senior middle blocker Autumn Lee and sophomore middle blocker/opposite hitter Areanna Sabine play club for and junior outside hitter Connie Varella plays for SMBC.
Saturday's triumph was redemption for Brentwood, which went undefeated in Alpha League play last season but got upset by Rim of the World 19-17 in the fifth set in the semifinals.
Brentwood (22-7) will host La Jolla (16-19) in the first round of the state playoffs at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Vikings were runners-up to Cathedral Catholic in the San Diego Section Division III playoffs.
