Girls Volleyball

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Moore League Champions

1983 CIF CHAMPIONS

2007 DIVISION 1 CALIFORNIA STATE CHAMPIONS

What a difference a Dream Team Player of the Year makes.

Three weeks ago Lakewood girls volleyball lost to Moore League rival Long Beach Poly at home in four sets, with the reigning Dream Team POY Destynie Viliamu hobbled with a sprained ankle. Tuesday night at Poly with Viliamu healthy, it was a different story as Lakewood prevailed in a five-set thriller, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 15-11.

The victory likely means the Lancers and Jackrabbits will be co-league champions, provided Lakewood tops Jordan on Thursday and Poly beats third-place Millikan on Monday.

“It’s special for us because that’s a fifth title in a row, we talked all year about the drive for five,” said Lakewood coach Mike Wadley.

Wilson is the only other team to win five league titles in girls volleyball in a row, and in four of those years they had Gatorade National Player of the Year Cynthia Barboza.

For Poly it would be a second league title in three years as the Jackrabbits shared the title with Lakewood two years ago as well.

The biggest difference between the matches was Viliamu, who is committed to play collegiately at UC Irvine. She had just six kills in the first round against Poly and played almost flat-footed. On Tuesday she had 24 kills, four digs, and three blocks.

“She’s central to our offense so she’s really important to us,” said Wadley. “She’s the heart of our team.”

In the first set, the Jackrabbits were in control thanks to a 4-0 service run from Kaia Brown that put them up 21-17. Lakewood trailed 17-15 in the second set but bounced back behind a series of big kills from Viliamu and Julia Crawford. The Lancers jumped out to a 16-9 lead in the third set and it took Poly almost the whole set to catch up, tying it at 23 on a Lakewood hit into the net.

The Lancers closed on a pair of kills from Viliamu and Crawford to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set was tied on 12 of the first 16 points and Poly fell behind 20-18 before Liz Schuster’s five-point service run put them back on top.

Then in the fifth set, Lakewood rode two kills from Viliamu, two from Crawford, and a breakout performance from middle blocker Annika Young, who had four kills in the frame. The Lancers jumped out to a 10-4 lead and sustained a late Poly scare with Schuster serving.

“Destynie is a vet, she’s able to get her team together,” said Poly coach Leland McGrath. “I think we lost a little control of our emotions tonight, it wasn’t a cerebral approach.”

Poly was led by Onye Ofoegbue’s 13 kills and two blocks, Allanah Cutler’s 15 kills, 10 kills from Brown, and 11 kills and two blocks from Kalyah Williams.

For Lakewood Viliamu was the star, but Crawford had 12 kills and two aces, Zyaire Garrit had 10 kills, and Young had 10 kills.

Lakewood will host Jordan for Senior Night festivities Thursday at 4 p.m. while Poly will play in the Redondo Union tournament this weekend before finishing league play on the road against Millikan on Monday.

Lakewood girls’ volleyball made some critical adjustments to beat Edison in the final match of the 13th annual Steve Lewis Memorial Volleyfest on Saturday 25-22, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19. Because of an injury to senior captain Destynie Viliamu, Lancers middle blocker Alanni Carter moved to outside hitter and led her team with 16 kills.

“We had to make adjustments and that allowed us to see what some players can really do,” Lakewood coach Mike Wadley said. “If we play defense and pass that well, we’ll be goodLakewood junior Julia Crawford had 12 kills, three aces and was in on a handful of blocks. Senior libero Malina Ua had a game-high 21 digs. Annika Young played extra time the middle because of Carter’s move out wide, and the senior contributed seven kills and four blocks.

“Young had a career night,” Wadley said. “In the first set they were giving us some trouble (in the middle) and she adjusted. She’s a senior who has really stepped up, and we need that right now.”

Lakewood (13-3, 5-1 Moore League) is ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division 1. Edison (10-10, 3-1 Sunset League) beat the Lancers earlier this year at the Dave Mohs tournament. The Chargers were led by Lindsey Sparks, who had 14 kills and 13 digs.

With reigning Dream Team Player of the Year (and UC Irvine commit) Destynie Viliamu back on the floor, the Lancers had no trouble dispatching the Rams in straight sets. Lakewood was led by 14 kills from Alanni Carter, and 35 assists from setter Moni Vivao. Libero Malina Ua had 11 digs and Viliamu had six kills, seven digs, and three aces.