By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor There might be one game left in the regular season for both Poly and Mayfield, but there is still plenty that is left to be decided. The Panthers and Cubs are both 9-2 and sit atop the Prep League standings together. Poly and Mayfield split their head to head matches […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
There might be one game left in the regular season for both Poly and Mayfield, but there is still plenty that is left to be decided.
The Panthers and Cubs are both 9-2 and sit atop the Prep League standings together.
Poly and Mayfield split their head to head matches and both dropped recent matches to a surging Chadwick program.
The Panthers and Cubs entered the next to last week of the season as the No. 9 and No. 10 ranked programs in the most recent CIF-SS Division 4 poll.
Poly survived a gutsy effort from their rivals at Flintridge Prep on Friday, but the Panthers escaped with a five-set victory.
They will finish out their regular season schedule Monday, as they host sixth-place Providence (2-8 in league) at 3:45.
In tight matches of late, Kate Salembier, Ella and Zoey Mao, Alexis Pappachan and Debbie Hong have all stepped up their play for first-year coach Katrina Damasco.
Mayfield got a second chance to earn at least a share of the league championship thanks to the same Dolphins program that knocked them out of first place back on September 25.
Nine days later, Chadwick gave the Cubs a gift with its five-game victory over Poly.
With one match to go, and merged in a two-tie for first place, Poly has the more favorable scenario.
As mentioned, the Panthers face a struggling Providence team, and do so at home.
Ellie Watkins, Maeve Davitt, Sarah Tupy and Caroline Ivankovich are just a few of the many Cubs’ players that have contributed big things all season.
Mayfield’s final test of the regular season comes at Westridge on Tuesday.
The Tigers have been playing their best volleyball of the season, and are currently riding a three-match, Prep League win streak.
Mayfield defeated Westridge in four games back on September 13.
FSHA will face off with the Mission League’s top two programs in the final week of the regular season.
The Tologs host second-place Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday and then travel to first-place Marymount on Thursday.
FSHA does enter the week with some confidence.
The Tologs won the Division 1 Silver Bracket over the weekend in San Diego at the So Cal Invitational.
Peyton DeJardin, Megan Lund, Emmie Barnard, Skylar Bowyer, Julia Powers and Ryan Dubb all played a big role in FSHA’s 5-2 mark in San Diego.
No one knows for sure if the Tologs will earn a playoff spot, but if they somehow defeated the league’s top two programs this week, FSHA would almost certainly claim a postseason spot.
And with 24 wins thus far, you’d have to like their chances of getting an at-large bid in the worst case scenario.
La Salle is done with their regular season slate and now the Lancers have to wait until Saturday when CIF releases the playoff brackets.
As of today, La Salle has one more win than both St. Paul and St. Anthony for third place.
The Lancers split their two matches with both the Saints and Swordsmen.
La Salle was hampered a little over the last few weeks, because of injuries to their leading offensive player, Chloe Howell, as well as libero Vanessa Ramirez.
Carly Kejmar, Crystal Ramirez and Elle Harrity have also been key to the Lancers being in the hunt for a playoff spot.
If St. Joseph defeats St. Anthony and Bishop Montgomery beats St. Paul on Wednesday, the Lancers get the automatic playoff bid.
Westridge enters the final week of the regular season in fourth place and just one game back of Chadwick for the third spot in the Prep League.
The Tigers have a brutal final week, as they take on first-place Mayfield and Chadwick.
If they were to win out, Westridge would earn the league’s No. 3 spot over Chadwick, because they will have swept the Dolphins.
Julia Cruz, Nicole Gibbs and Krystal Raymundo have been integral in the Westridge surge of late.
Flintridge Prep is on the outside looking in.
But the Rebels are far from conceding a place in the Division 7 playoffs.
Prep will finish fifth out of seven teams in the Prep League.
The Rebels will host Chadwick on Tuesday at 5:30.
Courtney Johnson, Jada Gritton, Libby Penn and Ani Bernardi have set the pace for the Rebels and coach Sean Beattie all season.
Marshall, Pasadena, Muir and Blair will not see the playoffs in 2018.
The Eagles, Bulldogs, Mustangs and Vikings have a combined win-loss total of 18-52, which also includes one total victory on the season combined for Blair and Muir.
Pasadena Area Volleyball Schedule:
Monday:
Providence at Poly at 3:45
Tuesday:
Mayfield at Westridge at 5:15
Harvard-Westlake at FSHA
Chadwick at Flintridge Prep at 5:30
Pasadena at Burroughs at 4:45
Muir at Arcadia at 5
Wednesday:
Westridge at Chadwick at 4:30
Thursday:
FSHA at Marymount at 6:15
Gabrielino at Mayfield at 5:30
Pasadena at Muir at 3:30
Volleyball Standings Through October 6:
Del Rey League:
St. Joseph (26-5 overall, 6-0 in league)
Bishop Montgomery (14-10, 4-2)
La Salle (21-11, 3-5)
St. Paul (23-10, 2-5)
St. Anthony (20-10, 2-5)
Mission League:
Marymount (26-7 overall, 5-0 in league)
Harvard-Westlake (23-9, 4-3)
Notre Dame (14-7, 4-3)
FSHA (24-12, 3-3)
Marlborough (10-9, 0-7)
Mission Valley League:
Gabrielino (23-8 overall, 11-0 in league)
South El Monte (11-4, 9-1)
Rosemead (8-11, 6-4)
Arroyo (7-14, 5-6)
Marshall (9-14, 4-7)
Mountain View (1-22, 1-10)
El Monte (0-16, 0-8)
Olympic League:
Village Christian (25-7 overall, 6-0 in league)
Whittier Christian (23-6, 5-1)
Valley Christian (17-12, 3-4)
Heritage Christian (16-12, 2-5)
Maranatha (4-21, 0-6)
Pacific League:
Arcadia (22-3 overall, 11-1 in league)
Burroughs (20-5, 11-1)
Crescenta Valley (18-10-1, 8-4)
Burbank (13-14, 8-4)
Pasadena (4-8, 4-7)
Glendale (9-13, 2-8)
Hoover (3-15, 2-10)
Muir (0-13, 0-11)
Prep League:
Poly (13-5 overall, 9-2 in league)
Mayfield (17-8, 9-2)
Chadwick (11-6, 7-3)
Westridge (10-9, 6-4)
Flintridge Prep (11-8, 4-7)
Providence (16-11, 2-8)
Rio Hondo Prep (10-18, 0-11)
Rio Hondo League:
San Marino (20-5 overall, 8-0 in league)
South Pasadena (25-9, 6-2)
Monrovia (11-8, 5-4)
La Canada (9-14, 4-5)
Temple City (9-7, 2-6)
Blair (1-10, 0-8)
