Girls Volleyball: Bonita wins the pressure points, sweeps Los Altos to take control in Miramonte
Los Altos hung with Bonita for the most part, but the Bearcats won all the pressure points, sweeping the Conquerors 25-22, 25-18 and 25-21 in pursuit of their third straight Miramonte League title. UCLA bound Allie LaPierre had 17 kills and Katie Kirby had 9 kills and 9 digs to pace the Bearcats, now 7-5-1 and 2-0 in league. Ashley Maxfeldt was huge too with 27 assists and six clutch aces. Jazmen Russell and Amanda Brown paced the Conq's with 6 kills each.
By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
There is something about facing Los Altos that brings out the best in the Bonita High School girls volleyball team. The Bearcats, entering the week with a .500 record and questions about their confidence and consistency, found all the motivation they needed on the opposite side of the net and swept Los Altos, 25-22, 25-18 and 25-21 as they continued pursuit of their third consecutive Miramonte League title.
"With Los Altos it's always a rivalry," said Bearcats outside hitter Allie LaPierre, who finished with a game high 17 kills. "When I was a sophomore they were the team to beat and we split the league title with them.
"Ever since then we've always approached it like they're the team to beat, and that gets us to focus hard and concentrate on what we need to do to get a win.
"We're glad we came here and got this one out of the way. Now I can't wait to play them at our house to finish it out."
The only negative on an otherwise perfect night for Bonita was losing senior Delia Bisbardis to a knee injury in the second game. She was helped off the floor and her status is day-to-day.
"It was nerve-racking, but it always feels great to finish in three," Bearcats coach Adriana Contreras said. "Obviously, it scared me to lose one our players (Bisbardis) on the back row, but all of our attackers were on and our blocking was great.
"We know that Los Altos is always going to come to play. We have been working on finishing and winning the pressure points, and tonight we finally delivered what we have been practicing."
Bonita's Katie Kirby had nine kills and nine assists and Ashley Maxfeldt came up with 27 assists and six aces as the Bearcats, ranked No. 2 in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division III-A poll, improved to 7-5-1 and 2-0.
The Conquerors, led by Jazmen Russell and Amanda Brown's six kills each, dropped to 10-4 and 1-1.
"This felt good," Kirby said. "The past couple matches have been terrible for us. It was great to close out games the way we did."
After Bonita jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first game, the Conquerors battled back and cut the Bearcats' advantage to 23-22 on Russell's cross-court kill.
But the Bearcats answered with a huge block from Lauren Mierke. Then on game point, the Conquerors hit an open shot into the net that allowed the Bearcats to escape with a 25-22 win.
Los Altos led 13-12 in game two, but quickly fell behind 16-13 and 20-15 and never caught up.
LaPierre's back-to-back kills gave the Bearcats a 22-16 lead, then her corner kill and ace made it 24-18. They closed it out when the Conquerors hit another shot into the net.
Game three was more of the same, with the score going back and forth, tied eight times and at 19-19 when the Bearcats reeled off three consecutive clutch points and got a Kirby kill to take a 22-19 lead.
After the Conquerors briefly closed to 22-20, Kirby's cross-court kill made it 23-20 and Victoria Dennis came up with a block to go up 24-20.
Kirby closed it out on match point with another signature spike.
"When the pressure points come up we get all fired up," Kirby said. "There was some talking going on (in the blogs) so we really wanted to come here and deliver a message."
Closing games and matches had been a problem for the Bearcats, something they addressed when the week started.
"We haven't been closing and we have been talking a lot about how we need to close," LaPierre said. "A lot of it's just concentration. We know we have a pretty good team, but sometimes we lose our focus. It we stay mentally strong and win the big points, we will be fine the rest of the way."
fred.robledo@sgvn.com (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2161
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where are the new rankings?
San Dimas at Ganesha ON FRIDAY at 3:15 PM. San Dimas plays Ganesha in FOOTBALL (what's that?) on Thursday.
The reason I brought it up was many people were singing the praises of Los Osos after their victories over Bonita and Los Altos, I was reminding them that I thought Rancho was better. Both great teams I just think that Rancho was a touch better.
And Ghigh I disagree that high school volleyball is fairly predictable. When you have two quality teams anything can happen. I could list many examples(ie LA over SL) but I dont want to bore you.
Big games this week
Tuesday
LA vs South Hills
St. Lucy's vs Ayala
Claremont vs Los Osos (IE fans)
Thursday
Ganesha vs San Dimas
S. Hills vs Walnut
any others I am missing?
Nice job vbl. Hope your lips don't get chapped on that horn of yours!
I wish the IE was in the coverage area or at least mentioned more in the blog. Those teams would definitely mix up the top 10 here.
vbl: I don't think people hate hearing about the IE, just don't make it the focus. High School voleyball is fairly predictable though, so don't pat yourself on the back too hard.
The new CIF rankings are out and Bonita dropped to 4th? Thought that was kind of harsh considering I think their losses have only come against teams in higher divisions.
Div. 3A should just change it's name to the Prep Division. That league has a monopoly on the top spots. Too bad they didn't move leagues up and down last year.
Good luck to all this week. The season is flying by.
I know how some of you love hearing about volleyball in the IE but anyways... I think I predicted that Rancho would beat Los Osos and they did just that last Thursday in 5, taking control of the Baseline league.
Along with my predicting of Bonita over LA and St. Lucy's over Glendora I have been perfect so far this season. I may have to change my screen name to prognasticator.
Yes you are nuts. In rankings of all sports small school teams are able to move up if and when they beat top teams. Undefeated doesn't mean a whole lot if you haven't beaten anybody.
For the fun of it, let me push some buttons. In the sports world when a top team loses they drop, and when a lower level team has an amazing record and continues to win they move up. BYU=Ganesha, Virginia Tech=San Dimas, so we should move up by all sports writing standards. We are hoping if we win out this week the same policy will dominate in the CIF rankings and we will move into the top 4 (Cerritos plays La Mirada, Pasadena Poly plays Mayfield, Ganesha plays San Dimas). Aren't I making sense? Or is this just too disturbing to deal with. Oh, Gladstone and La Puente should move up as well-both undefeated in league.
my mistake Ghigh, I must have been looking at San Dimas's record.
For the record, Ganesha hasn't played any teams in the area top ten. Where did you get the idea that we beat Gladstone in 5 sets? I believe that was San Dimas.
For the record-Walnuts loss was two weeks ago vs Glendora. Since then they have swept San Dimas, Claremont, Rowland and West Covina and a 2nd place finish in a tournament.
Regarding the top spot-you can have it. Give it to St. Lucy's.
They are there. The first page is by city. Select Glendora and they are there under Glendora H.S.
Just curious...
Why is St. Lucy's omitted from the SGV High School Board on the Home Page of SGV? They are not listed under the leaders or anything.
They record there score on Max Prep including stats.
SL's one area loss was awhile back. I believe they should be in the #1 spot. Especially since no one can remember when they ever have been given that spot. In addition, Walnut just lost last week prompting Glendora the #1 spot.
I believe its a tangible arguement.
Nice job vbl, with the exception of my own biased opinion of the top two. Like you said, it will play itself out. I predict SH's to take Walnut.
As I predicted earlier this year, the top teams will take turns beating up on eachother and no one will run the table. With that being said here are my rankings for next week
1. Walnut-sorry SL fans..not yet
2. St. Lucy's-making a run up from 6th a few weeks ago looks like they are on a mission to be the best in the SGV.
3. South Hills-lost in 5 to SL but gets Walnut at home next Thursday
4. Bonita- Big win yesterday after a couple of losses.
5. Glendora- two straight losses drops them to #5
6. Los Altos- rounding out the Big 6
7. Ganesha-impressive record although only victory against a top team came in 5 sets vs #10 Gladstone.
8. San Dimas-big game upcomming vs Ganesha for Valle Vista dominance
9. Bishop Amat-swept by St. Joesephs
10. Gladstone-
I know fred and Steve have been taking a bashing this week from the vb threads, but I think Aaron is right. Please donate your money and start buying papers so they can get a professional photographer to the matches they do cover so they don't have to recycle pictures over and over and post grainy shots.
Here is the link if you would like to contribute to such a worthy cause!
http://production.langnews.com/forms/circulation/subscribe-SGV.asp
or call (800)788-1200.
Operators are standing by. Act now and you will get a free bowl of soup!
With the shakeup how are the new rankings going to look next week?
I agree VB Insider. No one "go to" dominate player on this team. That is what makes SL so hard to plan for because you take one player/position out, there are 2 more right there that are just as effective. They are a much different team then the day they lost to LA, but in all fairness, they were a different team the day before and the day after as well!
I have to agree with vblfan2. Having now seen Glendora (and actually more impressed with Chino Hills), we haven't seen Ayala yet, so can't compare, but you are looking at either Glendora, Ayala or CH as the third place team in Sierra and a likely 4th place team in DB, not that Ganesha wouldn't be competitive, but I would take any of those teams to win that match up. I also agree you guys could potentially go further in CIF, but again, I don't think you will be facing any Olympic national players in your quest.
Glad I stirred up the pot a little, but everyone is still too nice! We are hoping this is our year, and then next year we will drop two divisions. Our only five game loss is to Estancia though, but our competition could have been better in preseason.
Thanks for the compliments-last year we ended up 6th and people were upset, so if we can do some damage in the next few weeks maybe we can stir the pot a little more.
Kepp bloggin people-even the Bonita players brought it up as a motivating factor which is hilarious.
In my humble opinion yes the third place team in the Sierra league only would beat you and San Dimas. And only the second place teams in the San Antonio and Miramonte leagues would beat you. In other words only the top 6 in the valley. In no way do I mean any disrespect toward your program or your girls, you guys are doing an awesome job I just think there is seperation of the top 6. Like I said I think you guys will beat San Dimas. San Dimas was pretty much blown out by Bonita and Walnut earlier this year.
Just one persons opinion, i could be way wrong. Either way you will probably go farther in CIF than a lot of those teams in the top 6. Keep up the good work.
Congratulations to Bonita and St. Lu's!!!! Great statement wins from both teams. Volleyball Insider is right on in characterizing CIF rankings and respective divisions and in describing SL's team mentality. Everyone is doing their job and doing it well. Looking forward to Ayala Tournament and hoping that some of the match ups we've imagined and re-matches we've hoped for can happen.
SGV is for fun but if we are truly looking at CIF polls and Divisions, then you have to recognize that the DIV I schools are vastly different then the Division III-A's schools.
With that being said, being ranked 2 and 5 in Div III-AA and Div III-A is great. But you have to respect being ranked #6 in Div II-AA is nothing to scoff at. St. Lucy's competition in that Division are the girls who are ranked top in the country. So let's be reasonable GHigh. You have much to be proud of but lets not lessen what it means to be where SL is ranked. The competition is much, much different.
To vbl, SL has played 15 games and I certainly hope they have come a long way since they lost in their 3rd game. SL should go to #1 for this week. Each week, SGV has profiled singular players from some of these top teams. However, SL doesn't have one but a team of very strong hitters and defenders. Everyone is putting up strong numbers and doing their job. That is what is clicking. Congratulations St. Lucy's. Next is Ayala. Another strong opponent.
So in your humble opinion a league champion in the Valle Vista should be below 2nd and 3rd place teams in other leagues? Makes it hard for the little girls to get any recognition, especially when there is no way of knowing that they wouldn't beat those teams.
I don't know if we will beat San Dimas-at times they can be as strong as most of the teams on this list.
Still, this is just for fun and Bonita is the only team ranked higher than Ganesha in their CIF division and that's what counts when playoff time comes around.
as long as they dont move into the top 6 Ghigh. There is real seperation between 6 and 7 in my humble opinion. Just beat San Dimas, I think you will, they didnt look that strong when I saw them earlier this year.
So Ganesha and San Dimas move up next week? Give it up for the Valle Vista!
Two sweeps, impressive. Congratulations to SL and Bonita.
SL has come a long way since they got swept by LA. Not sure if they leapfrog Walnut to the number one position or not, that will be up to Fred. The arguement is Glendora beat Walnut and SL beat Glendora so they should be in the top spot, but Walnut can say the same thing, they beat LA and LA beat SL. Tough call.
Congratulations Bonita on a game very well played. Kudos!! You earned it and deserve it!!
Unofficial results...
Ayala beat Diamond Bar
anyone got the Ayala Db, and Glendora St Lu scores?
Early word is Bonita downs LA in 3...
As I called it, St Lucy's defeats Glendora in 3, 25-19, 25-19, 25-18, and it wasn't that close! Glendora had no answer for the St. Lucy's hitters, which Macy did an excellent job of spreading it around to keep Glendora guessing. Our defense was top notch with Sifuentes playing some fantastic ball! Our blockers completely shut down their attack making them have to hit around. Nice job Regents! Obvious choice for #1!
Walnut defeated West Covina 3-0
what are you trying to make us go to a volleyball game.take it easyon us fred .kh
Ganesha def. Baldwin Park 25-10, 25-9, 25-16
We are 13-3, 2-0 in Valle Vista. Next up at Pomona on Tuesday at 3:15 and then San Dimas at home for a tough match on Friday at Ganesha.
To everyone that would like more coverage. Buy more papers. Ad revinue is based off circulation of the paper. If we in the valley want more coverage we need to buy more papers and then go to the tribune to get Fred more writers. Fred And Steve are two guys and they have correspondents but for the most part it's the two of them cover 30+ highschools. Although you could drop SD and DR since the Daily Bulletin covers them, no idea why they cover San Dimas. With San Dimas being further west than La Verne.
Wow! Who would write something like that.
Fred/Steve: Do not listen to "What a Shame"
I am very proud of the work you do and giving a voice to young women's sports. Many of these talented young women will go on to NCAA level ball and your work helps inspire so many of these girls.
I know sometimes we get a little greedy but nothing beats the feeling of when these young women see themselves in the paper or when the community can congratulate them on their athletic accomplishments.
Or taking it a step further by bridging some of these young female athletes to go watch other female athletes in support.
Thank you again.
Ashley,
You are remarkable player and many of us parents at LA know what a great athlete you are. You handle yourself with grace and you DO have much more experience on the court. Too bad there's always one bad seed out there. If one idiot parent is talking about you at LA, well, shame on them. Remember, you just have to take it with a grain of salt considering the probable source. Its sad that one parent has to make the rest of us look bad.
What a shame, thanks, but I don't think spell check would have caught "officials" since it was spelled correctly, perhaps you should have grilled me about my self-editing skills, but thanks for the help, I corrected it... BTW, a travesty? Are you serious? I was being tongue and cheek about the Dodgers comment, lighten up...
Fred/Steve, you guys do an excellent job. Fully understand resources are stretched thin in these lean times. Just glad we have a forum to share! Keep up the good work!
Fred
What a shame - you are a prep writer for this paper and it is a travesty you have to get off your butt and cover something rather than sit and watch TV
Every time you open your mouth you make yourself look more and more foolish. Hey - maybe start with spell check Mr. Writer "This is your officials pregame girls volleyball thread."
Nice
Aaron,
Her name is Ashley Lee,
She is playing for Long Beach State right now.
Aaron,
Her name is Ashley Lee,
She is playing for Long Beach State right now.
I think SL VB Fan meant that as a joke.
Fred and Steve are great. And yes, St. Lucy's got lots of coverage when they lost to Los Altos. Thank you VB Fan. If Los Altos doesn't win tonight, that will continue to be their only claim to any real win.
Games like that have to happen. It just reminds the girls that you can't take any team for granted.
In all seriousness, volleyball is a great game and anything can happen. I have seen where momentum takes hold of talented teams and I have seen the stress of it all take its hold on teams by creating their own errors.
Good luck to the all the teams tonight. Especially St. Lucy's.
To GHigh: You are right. I am sure we will update you guys and we have our own built in photographer so we can send the highlights too.
GHigh,
I was at that match, and it was insane. The girls felt they could have done just as well as Wilson had. What was that player's name, I forget and Maxpreps doesn't help me either. Also you might remember what school she ended up attending.
St. Lucy's, I think you received enough exposure when you lost to the one team.... you know they where red white and blue... hahah
Just giving you hard core fans a hard time...
I just looked at max prep, you guys are kicking butt!
Its not worth giving these two fellows a tough time... They are doing the best that they can.
I understand the thought process Fred. Top teams are top teams, LA has been covered already this year against SL. Bonita has had a feature done on one of their players. But any coverage is good covereage so we'll take it. Im sure you will hit all the top teams by the end of the season.
Wilson had a great player, strong defense, and a committed coach, and they won in 5.
Bonita has been pretty darn good in volleyball for some time now.
Fred and Steve, I think you are doing a great job covering volleyball. Usually we don't get any attention on a Thursday or Friday so this is cool, even if St. Lucy's game won't be covered. I think we have enough St. Lucy's fans to let us know how it went, though.
Good luck to all-should be some serious action.
To FredJ:
No explanations are needed. Writers write, parents parent, players play..........we all have a role. You and Steve do a great job covering "PREP" sports. We should count our blessings.
So apparently we need to throw the SGV Tribune office staff under the bus! Apparently they were not aware of the importance of tonight's games! Guess everone else will have to rely on our significant journalism skills to assess tonight's game.
My preview is that at least statistically, Brain appears to be Glendora's entire team. SL's blockers will have to shut her down like they did with SH's in order to disrupt their attack. SL's has shown success with much better hitters in Vansant and Bai so as long as they work together, they should win no problem! Go Regents!
So this is what I'm getting from all of this, Bonita used to be a Water Polo School/Girls Soccer School and still are to some extent with water ball...and now Bonita is a volleyball school...Bonita legitimately has not been a football school in a long time. Yeah the 90s were great and culminated in a Championship...but in boys water polo they were a dynasty with five championships and was basically plug in any coach.
Good to see the girls still fighting, hope this can be the year...no idea how Wilson won that year.
INTERN TIME!!!
Well seems like both LA and Bonita seem to be pretty even in the outside and setters positions.... Thank you Maxfeldt Senior for clearing it up, hahaha. I think L.A. might have a little extra in the middle then bonita... But we will see.
As for steve... WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO EMAIL AND ANSWER MACHINES?????
St Lucys vs.Glendora is big game.. I guess the ending of the Dodger game is more important as professional sports writers....... Just cut and paste from the L.A. times...
FOUR BIG GAMES TODAY
LA vs BONITA
ST LUCYS vs Glendora
Dodger vs Cards
Angles vs Bsox
Just to follow, our intention was to cover both games, but we had some cancellations on our phone desk, so Steve has to answer volleyball and cross country phones tonight. We're doing our best to cover as much volleyball as we can, we already have covered three games this week, and hope to cover three to four each week.
As far as picking which games we cover, it might not be fair for St. Lucy's, but Steve covered Glendora earlier in the week, so selecting Glendora in a game again would be too much Tartans coverage. That's why we went with what we felt was the other big game, Bonita at Los Altos.
I agree 1 vs 3 should be covered over 5 vs 6. Both are big rivalries. Both should actually be covered.
Wow Fred/Steve!
No one there at the South Hills game, no one there for tonight's marquee matchup in arguably the most competitive league in the valley. Where is the love???
I sure am glad we are the big fish in a little pond, because some of this stuff is too much for high school volleyball. Let's settle this stuff on the court.
How come Bonita is in a bit of a slump? They have lost a couple in a row. I know they have played some really good teams but what was lacking in those losses. Offense? Defenss? Passing? just wondering.
Rrrrrgh....Go get 'em kitty cat....I mean Momma Bearcat...
I think everyone agrees Maxfeldt is amazing and no need for the resume (Though it is an impressive one). Would love to see a battle of the setters for the LA/Bonita game. Cause you know the LA Fan is the setters parent. (Purely speculation of course...heehee)
In response to earlier blog about young and inexperienced Bonita setter...
VBALL BIO: 12 elite, 13 elite, 14 elite, 15 elite and 16 elite at Club West as setter
Starting setter for BHS varsity as a freshman, sophomore and now a junior
"First Team All League" as a freshman and a sophomore
"Second Team All Area" as a sophomore(only sophomore on the list)
MVP for BHS varsity as a sophomore
Two years High Performance representing Southern California
USA volleyball 16's beach champion with outstanding partner Natalie Bookout-Gonzales
Highest Honorable mention for Frosh 59 (top players in the country)
Highest Honorable mention for Soph 79 (top players in the country)
Scholar athlete
Number of letters from colleges interested in recruiting her since 9/1/09 - 39 and counting
"young and inexperienced" must be a new term for AWESOME.
You go Maxfeldt!
Unfortunately Steve will be in the office taking volleyball calls. I wish we could have covered both, but hopefully St. Lucy's calls in with the result so we can right something up.
Really would like to see Bonita pull it together tonight for a victory. There is definitely some major talent on this team and would love to see them come out with the win. But its not going to go without a lot of hardwork. Jasmine and Erica are a pretty effective duo. Your back row needs to be ready tonight.
St. Lucy's/Glendora game should be a good one. Both have a lot of depth and it really will go to whoever shows up tonight.
#1 vs #3 and #5 vs #6 Great matchups. My prediction is St. Lucys and Bonita although, as I stated before, it will probably go 5 and anything can happen in a game 5. Good luck to all 4 teams.
Fred if you are at the Los Altos/Bonita game will Steve be at the St. Lucy's/Glendora game?
Go Regents!!!