Spikers Off Their Game in Win Over Carson

An old adage in sports is that once a team gets to the postseason, throw all the records out the window. A perfect example was Thursday night's City Section Division I boys volleyball quarterfinal match between Palisades High and Carson. 

The second-seeded Dolphins had swept Carson in their season opener back on March 4, but on Thursday the visiting Colts gave Palisades all it could handle. Though the Dolphins prevailed, 25-13, 18-25, 25-20, 25-21, it was far from their best effort and Coach was critical of their play. 

"It was a hair-raising match for Pali fans as we surely didn't play our 'A' game and Carson was determined to upset us," Forrest said. "If you weren't paying attention to the scoreboard, you would have never been able to guess who was winning."

After winning the first set easily, Palisades was done in by 17 unforced errors in the second, as the seventh-seeded Colts (21-12-3) leveled the match behind star outside hitter Matthew Pimblett. 

"Carson played like they always play, with a lot of heart and with outstanding defense--and their crowd roared with every play they made," Forrest assessed. "Their outside hitter [Pimblett] hit very well and gave us problems. Every time they got a kill or a dig or a block, they sure let us know it!"

Junior outside hitter led the Dolphins (23-5-2) with 20 kills and a .400 hitting percentage and junior middle blocker added nine kills off quick sets in the middle that kept the Colts' defenders on their heels. He also had three solo blocks, several more block assists and hit .620 for the match. 

"Alex was definitely the player of the match--he was our go to guy and it seemed as though no one else was playing when he attacked the ball," Forrest said. "He was unstoppable. He saved us in many sticky situations and hit extremely well."

Senior setter had 14 digs, one ace and 88 assists to go along with accurate passing by , and . In all, Palisades players had nine aces and eight blocks.

"Even though we controlled the third and fourth sets, the crowd, and myself and my assistant coach were all on the edge of our seats as we never really felt that the game was ours," Forrest admitted. "To be honest, I'm glad we didn't play as well as we normally do. I'm glad because hopefully we got this 'C' game out of our system, and won't play like that again. We will struggle and have many problems with a similar performance."

Palisades will host third-seeded Sun Valley Poly (21-6-2) in the semifinals next Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Forrest described the Parrots as "scrappy" and expects a tough match. The schools met in the City Division 2 girls final in November and the Dolphins won in straight sets. Forrest hopes for the same outcome Tuesday. 

"They have one or two guys that are very good," he said. "We have to keep our mistakes at a minimum and keep attacking on offense." 

Poly swept West Adams Prep (24-11-1) on Thursday and is the only one of the four teams left that has not dropped a set in the playoffs.

"We certainly can't overlook them, especially given the way we played against Carson," Forrest said. "When you get to this point, all the teams are solid."

On the opposite half of the draw, top-seeded Granada Hills also had a bit tougher-than-expected quarterfinal. The Highlanders (19-3) needed four sets to dispatch No. 9 Van Nuys (26-17-1) and will host fourth-seeded Narbonne (31-6-2) in Tuesday's other semifinal.