Sports
Palisadian Sophomores Spike for Bruins
UCLA's Meg Norton and Jenna Scilacci play at archrival USC Friday night.
No matter what the sport, whenever USC plays UCLA there is always something extra at stake ... city bragging rights.
Friday night will be no exception when the rival women's volleyball teams meet for the first time this season at USC's Galen Center. The Bruins' roster includes two Palisadians—sophomores Meg Norton and Jenna Scilacci—both of whom will be looking for their first win against USC, as the Trojans swept the season series last year.
Norton, a 5-11 libero/defensive specialist, played in 22 matches and 60 sets as a freshman last fall, equaling a career high with 12 digs in UCLA's five-set loss to USC last November. She started one match (Nov. 19 at Oregon) and finished the season with 22 kills and 77 digs.
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Norton was a prep standout in volleyball and track at Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood. She was a three-time Mission League MVP in volleyball and was named the All-Area Player of the Year as a senior.
Norton led the Wolverines to a state title in 2007 and played club with Scilacci for Sunshine Volleyball, run by fellow Palisadian Cari Klein, the head coach at Marymount High. Her older brothers Michael and Patrick played volleyball for Brentwood School.
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Scilacci, a 6-0 middle blocker, played in three matches and four sets as a freshman, with seven kills and three aces. She played three years on varsity for Klein at Marymount and was an All-Sunshine League second team her junior and senior years, helping the Sailors to three straight league titles.
Scilacci's older brothers James and Brian both played volleyball for Loyola and UCLA. On Friday, she will be playing against her former Marymount teammate Sam Hirschmann, a sophomore outside hitter for the Trojans.
Norton pounded a career-high 11 kills and Scilacci added three in the Bruins' season-opening sweep over Quinnipiac on Aug. 26.
Eighth-ranked UCLA (6-1) will be trying to rebound from Wednesday's five-set defeat at Pepperdine while ninth-ranked USC (5-2) has won four straight, all of them sweeps. Friday's Pac-12 Conference opener is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and will be tape delayed on Fox Sports Net.
UCLA leads the all-time series 56-51 and holds a 20-19 edge at USC.
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