Lady Mustangs Overwhelm Palos Verdes Team

The past three weeks have been tough on the Mira Costa High School girls volleyball team, with matches against some of the best teams in the nation.

But when you’re a traditional powerhouse program with multiple national championships, as is the case with the Lady Mustangs, these types of matches can be expected.

Last week for example, the  Mustangs were swept by Los Alamitos, the top-ranked team in the CIF-SS Division 1, and Marymount, the top-ranked team in the CIF-SS Division 1 AA.

Those losses helped propel the Mustangs to a win on the road over rival Palos Verdes, 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, in a four-game thriller Tuesday. The contest was the Bay League opener for both squads.

"I thought we showed a lot of heart tonight," said Mira Costa Head Coach Lisa Zimmerman. "It was a slow start for us but we didn’t get down on each other, which made me very proud. I think we learned a lot about ourselves the last two weeks, and I think our schedule really helped us tonight because we didn’t get rattled."

The Lady Mustangs (5-6, 0-1) trailed by four points, 19-15, late in game one before scoring six unanswered points to gain control. The scene repeated itself in the second game when the team found itself down 23-21, before scoring the final four points to secure the victory.

"We’re coming off two really tough matches from last week," said senior outside hitter Maddy Klineman, who has a scholarship to play at UCLA next season. "They were close matches but they were sweeps, and I know that we came in really fired up to show that we are still a pretty good team."

The match was a showdown between two of the South Bay’s best outside hitters: Palos Verdes senior Sam Rummans, who is a transfer from El Segundo, and Klineman.

Rummans, who had a match-high 17 kills, got the best of Klineman (15 kills) in individual statistics but it was Klineman who got the win.

"We were really trading shots, especially in the first game," said Klineman, who had to endure chants of "overrated" by the Palos Verdes crowd.

"This is our cross-town rival and the start of Bay League, so we know their players, what they want to do and who they want to hit the ball. I think our coach really had us prepared for this match and it helped us get the win," she said.

Zimmerman said that she was impressed with Klineman’s performance.

"She was great tonight," Zimmerman said of her star player who has been slow to come back to full strength from an injury she suffered before the start of the season. "She’s still not back to 100 percent but I’m happy with where she’s at because she has been out for so long. I think she handled herself really well and stepped up big every time we needed a point."

Junior setter Corie Bain led the Lady Mustangs with a match-high 33 assists, three aces and four kills while junior outside hitter Grayce Campbell had 11 kills and eight digs. Junior middle blockers Gabi Rosenfeld and Kelsey McIntire each had five kills and a block while Lexi Millington had 24 digs and three kills.

"I think our strength is how well we work together and believe in each other," Zimmerman said. "This was a great win for us and definitely something to help us build upon."

Mira Costa gets a much-deserved rest with a bye on Thursday before returning to action on Oct. 6 with a home game against West Torrance at 5:15 p.m.