South Pasadena Volleyball Sweeps San Marino in Conference Rivalry
By Vincent Nguyen
The South Pasadena Tigers improved on their winning streak and swept the San Marino Titans 25-22, 25-15, and 25-9 in a league game on April 7.
“I knew it was going to be a little dirty to begin with because it’s been Spring Break,” said South Pasadena coach Benjamin Diaz. “We only had one practice right before this game, so I knew it wasn’t going to be exactly the prettiest.”
The first set was tightly knit even as South Pasadena kept the lead the entire time. San Marino pulled within three in the middle of the set, but South Pasadena continued their dominance throughout. The Tigers looked to cap off the set as they lead 23-19 before the Titans rallied for a 3-0 run to cut the lead to just one. South Pasadena stopped the San Marino attack and won the set 25-22.
The Tigers started the second set with a 4-1 run before stretching the lead 7-2. The Titans rallied to cut the deficit to three again, but the Tigers’ Richard Yu quickly smothered the momentum with a kill. Yu would come up big again after finishing off a 30 second back-and-forth rally to recapture their five point lead at 17-12. South Pasadena would continue to not let their guard down the entire set, and easily took the set 25-15.
South Pasadena would cap off the sweep as they kept their rivals in single digits and won their third set 25-9. The Tigers started off the third set the same way they did in the second with a 4-1. San Marino’s Arthur Young came in to inspire the Titans with a convincing point penetrating the Tiger’s defense and rallying to a 10-5 deficit. But the rally came up short once Young tried to run the same play again moments later, but South Pasadena’s Lucas Fox and Max Lock defended the spike well to keep it out of their side of the court. South Pasadena held on tight to take the set, and the game.
South Pasadena faces Temple City in their next conference game on April 9, while San Marino faces Gabrielino the same day. Games start at 3:30 p.m.