 | | | Vanessa Tang | | | | | | While the Lamorinda high school girls' volleyball regular season is winding down, the intensity is only rising. The final league games will be played on Nov. 6, and and not much has changed for teams at the top of the standings. Campolindo (10-0, 24-7) remains in first place with Acalanes (7-2, 18-7) and Miramonte (8-3, 21-9) following closely behind.
On Oct. 30, Acalanes hosted Miramonte to determine who would capture second place in the league. There was added pressure to the game, as it would likely factor in to NCS seeding. Although the Dons won by a decisive 3-0 score, the individual sets were much closer.
Miramonte, led by their senior captains Vanessa Tang and Lauren Foster, scored 20 or more points in each of the three sets, and it took extra points for the Dons' to take the second set (20-25, 26-28, 21-25).
Head coach Lisa Bachtold praised the Matadors' efforts despite the score. "The score doesn't reflect the positives from our game, which we will continue to work on," said Bachtold. She added that when the NCS playoffs arrive, her team will be ready.
"We are motivated and determined to get farther than last year in the playoffs, and will do so by playing great defense," said Bachtold.
The Acalanes Dons are also ready to make a deep run in the NCS playoffs. Led by new coach Todd Travis, the Dons have taken advantage of forcing their opponents to make mistakes.
"We have minimized our unforced errors and put a lot of pressure on other teams, especially with our tough serves," said Travis.
The Dons are coming off of a season where they failed to make it out of the first round of NCS. However, Acalanes is poised to come back stronger than ever in the playoffs this year.
"Although we don't have quite the NCS experience that other teams do, we work hard every day in practice to put ourselves in the position to do well in NCS," said Travis.
Campolindo, last year's No. 1 seed in NCS, lost to Bishop O'Dowd in the final. Campolindo has been dominant this season, winning 30 sets and losing only one set in league play. That loss came in a close game against rival Miramonte, where they went on to win the game 3-1 on Oct. 28. Head coach John Vuong is confident that if his team focuses on the fundamentals of the game, they will be successful in the playoffs.
"We must continue to improve our skills and stay healthy, which will benefit us in the playoffs," said Vuong.
He also mentioned four players who have helped the Cougars dominate this season. "Seniors Mackenzie Brown, Kelley Wirth, Annie Doyle and junior Kirsten Sibley have all been standout players this year," said Vuong.
With the regular season coming to a close, Lamorinda has been a force in the DFAL once again. The NCS playoffs begin Nov. 12.
|
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA