BOYS VOLLEYBALL: Arcadia advances, San Gabriel knocked out
Here's Scott Galetti's update on the Pasadena Star-News area boys volleyball teams.
Apaches tame Mustangs
Arcadia opened up the CIF-Southern Section Division II playoffs with a three-game victory over West Valley, 25-19, 29-27, 25-13. The Apaches will take on El Modena in the second round on Tuesday.
Above
Arcadia earlier this season.
Matadors bounced in first round
Lancaster defeated No. 3 San Gabriel in a Division III opening round game in four games, 25-17, 29-27, 20-25, 25-21.
Tigers survive scare
South Pasadena (17-4), got past Carpinteria, 25-15, 17-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-12 in a Division IV opener. The Tigers will travel to Whittier Christian on Tuesday.
Above
South Pasadena celebrates point against Carpinteria.
In other Division IV action, La Salle advanced with a three-game win over San Marino, 25-15, 25-22, 25-22. The Lancers will play North Torrance on Tuesday. Gabrielino fell to Mayfair in three games, 25-16, 25-18, 25-18.
Rebels get past Whitney
In Division V, Flintridge Prep defeated Whitney in four games, 15-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-13 and will face Windward on Tuesday. The Rebels beat Windward in four games on March 6.
Above
Flintridge Preps' Dylan Walker, left, and Graham Bradley.
In other Division V games, Bell-Jeff eliminated Pasadena Poly in five games, 23-25, 25-22, 27-29, 25-14, 15-11, St. Paul defeated Southwestern Academy in four games, 25-15, 20-25, 25-14, 25-11 and Salesian defeated San Gabriel Academy in three games on Wednesday, 25-8, 25-10, 25-19.
CIF-SS Playoffs
Second Round
All games on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Division II
El Modena at Arcadia (19-8)
Division IV
La Salle (21-8) at North Torrance
South Pasadena (17-4) at Whittier Christian
Division V
Flintridge Prep (15-8) at Windward
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About this blog
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
Boy, did you see the Dana Hills-Millikan first game score in the D 1 playoffs? Dana Hills won 40-38. Talk about exciting!
We're thankful for our draw for the quarterfinal. Would not want to have Arcadia's draw of Valencia and LaSalle's draw of Oaks Christian. What a Friday night its going to be for Star News area boys volleyball. If your a volleyball fan at all, it doesnt get much better.
A note on Friday night's CIF Quarterfinal between Bishop Montgomery and South Pasadena at South Pas HS. Arrive a little early, because we are expecting a larger than usual crowd and the ticket line could be a little slow. Suggest you arrive at 6:45 at the latest for the 7:00 pm first serve.
Also, celebrity dj "DJ Shy" from KISS FM will be mixing music from the time the doors open till first serve. "DJ Shy" is regarded as one of the top female dj's in the world and the SP vs Bishop Montgomery game at SPHS will be one of her last appearances in the LA area for a while. Next week she goes on tour all over the US for the next 3 months.
We're rooting for a LaSalle upset. I havent seen Oaks play this season and have just read a little about them. Based on that, it sounds like they're a step down, with the loss of CIF Player of the Year Alex Walker. A step down for Oaks is still better than most in Div 4 and they are clearly the fav to win CIF for a 3rd time in a row, as not one school to my knowledge has even taken a game (that includes the '05 South Pas team in the CIF Finals), much less a match (now 9-0 on matches and I believe 27-0 in games to 25 points) from them, in now 3 straight CIF Playoff years. The '05 team was their best team ever and was good enough to easily win the Div 3 Championship and they would have pushed the Div 2 Champ Valencia to their limit. '06 was very good but just didnt have as much across the board blocking and hitting power. '07 is TBD. I would have to say that LaSalle, even at home is going to be pushed to even take one game to 25 from them. If they don't, then welcome to the club of other teams that couldnt get a game off Oaks in the last 3 playoff years.
what's the prediction for the la salle/oaks christian game?
Hey, Coach Terzian, just because I played for your Dad, and I'm a nice guy, here is an article about Bishop Montgomery's first playoff game:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/prep/articles/7530082.html
Good luck on Friday!
looks like the La Salle - Oaks Christian game will be at La Salle.
Glad to see that there are 4 WSGV teams still playing. Good luck to all on Fri.
Arcadia beat El Modena in four games, 25-19, 17-25, 25-19, 25-21 in Division II. Arcadia will travel to play defending Division II champion Valencia on Friday.
As posted earlier, La Salle beat North Torrance, 25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19. They will play two-time defending champion Oaks Christian at home on Friday.
South Pasadena swept Whittier Christian, 25-15, 25-16, 25-23 to set up a matchup against No. 2 seed Bishop Montgomery at home.
In Division V Flintridge Prep defeated Windward, 25-18, 25-15, 25-19 and will host No. 2 Brethren Christian.
Congrat to La Salle, So.Pas. Salesian, and Flint. Prep for advancing to Friday showdown!!!!
public school vs private school
why dont we have an All Valley All star game for volleyball sponsor by Pasadena Star News???
La Salle beat N. Torrance in 4 games. They were tough, but the Lancer height and defense won out.
well have to see how la salle does against oaks christian first...
justfound an article on Bishop Montgomery:
http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/prep/articles/7508447.html
I agree with both coaches who say that VB is a team sport. While La Salle's Michael Fey is the best VB player I have ever seen on a regular basis, I have no idea whether he is better than anybody on So Pas, Arcadia, etc.
As far as who has the better team, we will have to wait until the final when La Salle plays So Pas at Cerritos. That will be a kick!
My turn to weigh in. Having played both teams twice, I will say that South Pasadena is a better team than La Salle. I will take some of the blame for our loss to them last Friday night, but they weren't very impressive even when winning in three games. I will say that their serving is very effective (when it's in), but they didn't do anything spectacular. We didn't serve receive or play defense like we need to beat good teams (or tall teams.) La Salle is a good team, but South Pasadena is better in my opinion. They have a more balanced offense and a setter who is incredible. He distributes the ball evenly and they have hitters in every position to put the ball away.
I wish that more of the 'Anonymous' posters would at least use a pseudonym so that their comments can be identified. You are taken much more seriously when you use your name.
25-22 is not a blow out. 25-15 is a blow out, and we were blown out the first game. That's my fault. I didn't have my players ready for what we saw.
Scott South Pas's setter left in the 3rd game against SM
South Pas struggled against Carpinteria without their setter and will bounce back now that he can play.
I agree with Todd that picking individual awards in volleyball "is what it is." Like no other sport I know volleyball is a team game. You can't win a match with one superstar (like in basketball for example.) A lot of things contribute to winning and losing. One of those is the skill of your athletes, but they have to know how to work together to get things done. What most people watching can't see is how an individual makes the rest of his team play better, and play together. And let the season finish before you start arguing.
Had Kevin not been injured, I would have picked South Pasadena to be the local team with the best shot going far into the playoffs. They were almost unbeatable in the CV tournament (in a field of great teams) and playing some of their best volleyball heading into playoffs. I hope that they can get back into the same form tonight and going into the quarters where they will face a very good Bishop Montgomery.
As far as leagues go, this year I would say Del Rey might be slightly tougher than Rio Hondo, but neither is easy. The 1, 2, and 3 seeds are pretty even. A first round game between the #2's of each league wasn't kind to either team.
Even if you assume La Salle plays in a tougher league than South Pasadena, from many standards, South Pasadena is the better team. That shouldn't be much of an excuse though considering South Pasadena does not have the recruiting powers La Salle has.
La Salle went to Bishop Mont. and lost in 3. I didn't make it down there, but the parents said that the Lancers could have won if they didn't make so many mistakes.
When BM came to La Salle , BM won the first game, then LS was ahead in the 2nd, and could have won it, but BM kept their poise, won the 2nd, then the 3rd game.
BM is the real deal, they are not flashy, they just get the job done. If BM plays So Pas, that will be a great match.
what were the scores in the la salle season games vs. bishop montgomery?
la salle play in a tougher league than south pas.
there are still two del rey teams remaining... we shall see who can last the longest
Brentwood was ranked No. 4 in its division for much of the early part of the season before dropping out entirely.
Coach Terzian, congrats on the win. That must have been quite a match. Glad to hear that your setter is OK. With all the interest about him, you would think that there are a lot of guys trying to decide how to bet the matches :)
I never will figure out Brentwood this year. They worked us (La Salle), went 12-0 and beat So Pas in the tourney, but went 2-6 in league. That is some tough league.
Good luck to all the SGV remaining teams in the tourney.
Article about Oaks Christian:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/may/09/dominating-and-motivated-too/
Another about Oak Park:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2007/apr/29/oak-park-senses-its-catching-up-to-oaks/
any teams in division IV look like they could put up a fight against oaks?
From what I've seen in the brackets, Brentwood (a fourth place team in their league) took the number 1 seed in Div 3 to 4 games before losing and every other team in their league (Olympic League) advanced to second round. Pretty solid teams in that league for Brentwood to be coming fourth despite how good Tito is.
South Pasadena has played both Flintridge Prep (Scrimmage) and La Salle and won. The tigers are easily better than those 2 teams. La Salle pulling off a good game against San Marino doesn't necessarily make them boost up on the polls. San Marino had ONE player over 6 foot and the rest of their roster was below that height. If La Salle is solely based on their height advantage, they are in for a rude awakening when they play teams with more height than San Marino.
A correction on the CV Tournament MVP from a few weeks aso. His name is Tito Goldstein.
All this talk about Players of the Year. Let the playoffs/season conclude and then its time to start talking about individual awards. 6 person volleyball is a team sport all the way, so individual awards "are what they are". They're fun, but dont mean much when compared to how you feel when your in the zone on the court with your teamates.
For those wanting to know about the health status of SoPas setter Kevin Kuramoto, who was injured in a very unusual blocking accident (7 stitches to close cut in the webbing area of his hand) against San Marino now 13 days ago. He played all of games 4 and 5 on Friday night and is slated to start the match on Tuesday at Whittier Christian. Each day SP can remain in the playoffs, means Kuramoto has one more day to recover and get back to quarterbacking the team to its full potential, which people saw at the CV Tournament, where they defeated 3 ranked in CIF teams in a row, before losing to Brentwood or should I say the "Tito Goldstein Show." Goldstein is by far the best individual player we've faced this season. Unless Oaks Christian has some guy we dont know about, I doubt we'll see another guy that good this season.
On a sidenote, it was dissapointing that so many Star News area teams lost on Friday night and that ones like an excellent defensive and teamwork style team like San Marino goes down in three. It was a rough night for the Rio Hondo League. We had to go to 15-12 in the 5th just to keep the RHL from going 0-3.
Oaks Christian is defending back-to-back Division IV champion and is the top seed.
As far as Player of the Year, those are all nice choices.
kevin kuramoto for Pas. star news player of the year, if not any other south pas player.
anyone know about oaks christian?
kevin (kurry) for v-ball player of the season. when hes in the game, the tigers are unstoppable
Michael Fey has been a great competitor for 4 years...my vote for player of the year
Who is going to be Pas. star news vball Player of the year??
who were player of the year for the past decade...can anyone trace back that long ago?
dylan walker is a beast!
We covered Salesian's last two soccer matches because they involved two area teams, La Canada and Marshall.
Hey Scott,
I thought Salesian was in the area coverage. Didn't you guys cover both its semifinal and championship game in boys soccer in Division V earlier this year? Just wondering.
Scott G,
Where's the love for FPrep? They may not be the best, but you know they're going to go further then anyone else in this area in the playoffs. How about covering a game?
South Pasadena apparently played the first three games without its setter. He came in for the last point.
No disrespect to La Salle, but South Pas is the higher seed.
SP was dissappointing against carpentaria. And thats an understatement.
If there was a top-5 this week, I'd have to put South Pasadena over La Salle.
They won the head-to-head matchup and their non-tournament losses are to Arcadia, Cerritos Valley Christian (No. 2 in Division III) and San Marino after their setter left the match in the third game with a hand injury.
Montebello is part of the Whittier Daily News coverage area.
How come no one is covering Montebello?? they advanced to the 2nd round from Almont League
Good job to La Salle head coach for playing everyone on the team...the loudest cheer came from the La Salle cheering section was when the underclassmen setter come into the game to get his feet wet for his first taste of Cif action...the first game was pretty much a blow out, the second game La Salle struggled in serves, and the third game was pretty much a blow out until the backup setter made a few setting errors to made the game close. Everyone played and win...that is a bonus.
next week Star News ranking should be...
1. Arcadia
2. La Salle
3. So. Pas.
4. Salesian
5. Flintridge Prep,
Montebello