Pali Spikers Open Playoffs in Style

Before the start of Monday night's City Section Division II playoff match, girls volleyball coach Chris Forrest acknowledged the effort of the six seniors, who were presented with balloons and honored right before player introductions.

It was a fitting tribute to opposite hitters Brittany Butts, Jenevieve Norris and Maddy Grey, libero Maddie Hausberg, defensive specialist Christina Noel and setter Meghan Middleton, who have contributed mightily to the program's success. The 12th-graders then went out and led the Dolphins to a 25-11, 25-10, 25-5 win against Arleta that took short of one hour.

"It just made me so sad, I can't put it into words," Middleton, one of the Dolphins' co-captains, said of the ceremony. "It's gone by so quick. We won [City] my freshman year and again last year, so I want to leave here with three titles."

The Dolphins' other captain, junior outside hitter Molly Kornfeind, led the team with 11 kills Monday, including two in a row to end the first set. Shanna Scott added nine kills and Caroline Grande had eight, including a crosscourt spike to end the second set. Kornfeind served eight of the Dolphins' 19 aces, Scott had nine digs and Middleton had 27 assists.

After opening a 10-4 lead in the third set, Palisades reeled off 12 straight points and 15 of the last 16 to close out the match.

"What we usually try to do in these types of matches is go game by game, cut down on mistakes, focus on every touch and not play down to the level of our opponents," Middleton said. "Playing in the right before playoffs helped because our chemistry got so much better. This whole game is mental and we like more competition."

Despite the huge number of aces, the Dolphins also made 14 service errors.

"When you look at it, they had 26 points in the match and we gave them over half of those ourselves," said Forrest, whose team had a first-round bye. "That's something we'll need to cut down on."

As for 17th-seeded Arleta (3-16-1), Coach Steve Martinez was surprised his team made the playoffs after finishing sixth out of seven teams in the East Valley League. He was even more surprised when the Mustangs upset 16th-seeded Canoga Park in five sets in the first round.

"I'm just trying to build a program, so going up against a team like Palisades is very tough," Martinez said. "They play at a whole different level, they all play club [volleyball], but it shows us how far we still need to go to contend."

Top-seeded Palisades (19-12) hosts King-Drew Medical (15-7) in a quarterfinal match at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

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