Monrovia Blitzes Burbank En Route To Third Straight Victory
By Aaron Valdez
The Monrovia girls’ volleyball team is off to its best start in years as it opens the season 3-0 after defeating Burbank in straight sets on Tuesday.
“It’s really important to start off the season strong, especially against tough competition,” said Monrovia Head Coach Ashlee Sinic. “We want to make a statement especially for CIF that we deserve a higher ranking than what we had last year and do our best to beat teams that are in higher divisions than us.”
So far the Wildcats have done just that, making light work of Westridge, Glendora, and now Burbank to maintain an unblemished record. During this three-game win streak, Monrovia has only dropped one set, which was in its 3-1 victory over Glendora last Thursday.
In Tuesday’s game against Burbank, the Wildcats did well to control the tempo and build healthy leads in order to comfortably close out each set. And though each set was more competitive than the last, Monrovia’s scrappy play style and team chemistry ultimately led to set wins of 25-12, 25-18 and 25-21.
Sinic said that she is still experimenting with lineups, rotations, and offensive schemes considering the season is still young. However, she also said the players have responded well and have found ways to adjust, especially some of the underclassmen.
“The younger girls got some time today, which was great, and they integrated themselves into the team in a way that allowed the starters to feel comfortable with them,” Sinic said.
Despite the recent success, the Wildcats will quickly need to refocus for their biggest test up to date as they travel to Arcadia for a marquee match-up against the Apaches on Thursday. This will be a rematch of last season’s first-round game between the two sides in which Arcadia eliminated Monrovia from the CIF playoffs.
“It’s important we continue to grow and continue to rely on our leadership and our seniors to make sure that the rest of our girls are feeling comfortable,” Sinic said.