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Wildcats Sweep Spartans, Stay Undefeated in Rio Hondo
Monrovia Weekly Oct 12, 2016
Former French actress and singer Brigitte Bardot was born September 28, 1934. – Courtesy photo
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Monrovia’s Carius (20) tips a ball over La Canada’s Weirick (8) and Kimberly Callister (12). – Photo by Christian Romo
By Christian Romo
After a five-set comeback win at San Marino last Thursday, the Wildcats anticipated another challenge from the hard-hitting Spartans. Instead, Monrovia capitalized on La Cañada’s sloppy performance and collected their sixth league win.
With improved communication on defense, the Monrovia Wildcats (18-6, 6-0) swept the La Cañada Spartans (6-10, 3-3) (25-18, 25-12, 25-13) Tuesday afternoon in Monrovia. Senior libero Madison Mayoralgo (#24) led the Wildcat defense, responding to La Cañada’s explosive hitters and directing her own hitters to open attacks. “Our team has been working very hard to communicate a lot more, because usually we’re pretty quiet on the court,” said Mayoralgo.
Scoring many points off Spartan errors, the Wildcats didn’t need much production from their best hitters. Sophomore Da’Niesha Davis (#7) turned in four kills, two aces, and three blocks, while senior Riley Carius (#20) led the team with six kills. Junior Sydney Carazzelli (#8) led both sides with five aces, highlighting what Monrovia coach Wayne Teng calls one of his team’s strengths. “Once the serving is going along with a good rhythm, it really helps them a lot,” he said.
La Cañada first-year Emily Weirick (#8) got six kills and led all players with 10 digs, but her performance wasn’t enough to overcome the Spartan’s numerous service errors. “We’re definitely going to work on serve receive, big time,” said Spartan junior Elizabeth Gannon (#2), who notched eight digs, leading La Cañada’s back line.
Spartans coach Chris Sullivan was disappointed with the loss, and said his team will work on communication and energy in practice this week. “That’s not our best effort,” he said. “Let’s just hope this was our one little blip in the season.”
Monrovia junior Kaila Tagavilla (#20) helped organize her team’s attacks with effective setting throughout the match. “The last couple of practices we’ve been working on our sets, and our fluidity throughout our hitters,” she said, adding that while the Wildcats are playing well right now, the team could always work on communication. Her coach agrees. “We’ve been working that tremendously…but we’re not there yet.”
The Wildcats remain undefeated and in first place in the Rio Hondo League as they head to Blair on Friday at 3:30 p.m. La Cañada looks to break a third place tie with the San Marino Titans in San Marino on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
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