By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor His players have been sick for more than a week. Their program had not won a Prep League title in exactly a decade. To top that off, perhaps no Prep League team fights above its talent level like Mayfield. So, no pressure. Westridge coach Otto Lacayo, however, saw his Tigers […]
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
His players have been sick for more than a week.
Their program had not won a Prep League title in exactly a decade.
To top that off, perhaps no Prep League team fights above its talent level like Mayfield.
So, no pressure.
Westridge coach Otto Lacayo, however, saw his Tigers change history, or update it some, with a sweep over visiting Mayfield on senior night Tuesday.
The victory earned Westridge a share of the Prep League regular season championship with Chadwick.
Westridge’s 25-23, 25-11, 25-15 victory was spearheaded by junior star Allison Martinez, who had a match-high 23 kills.
The future Long Beach State player continues her excellence, despite trying to come down from a high fever.
Makana Meyer has missed school of late, but nothing, including her health was going to stop her from being an integral part of a Prep League championship.
Meyer had 13 kills.
Angelica Raymundo added 41 assists for the league champs.
The win is especially memorable for Westridge seniors Angelica Raymundo, Stephanie Davis, Quincy Foster and Cheyenne Dobine.
Julia Cruz was called up from JV last week because of the number of sick players, and Cruz has more than earned her spot on the playoff roster for Westridge with her consistent play and serves/digs.
“The girls did a great job executing the game plan,” Lacayo said. “Mayfield is a very good team and we needed a strategy heading into the match. We prepped and played the way we wanted. Winning league was huge for us, as we’re heading into the playoffs. Our seniors got rewarded after putting in a ton of work over the last four years. I am very proud of our squad.”
Olivia Smith had 8 blocks for Mayfield and Hayley Eaves led the Cubs with 7 kills.
Mayfield coach Stephen Bernabe is someone area coaches say gets the utmost out of his talent.
The Cubs (15-12-1 overall, 8-4 in league) finish tied with Poly (13-8, 8-4) in third place.
“I give Westridge the credit for this game,” Bernabe said. “Some times with team sports, it’s not even about strategy, it’s really about which team wants it the most. We had good leads in the first and third sets, but as a team, we went away from what worked with us, and played timid. Westridge had more desire to win today.”
Despite the co-championship, both Westridge and Chadwick will go into the playoffs as No. 1 teams, because the Tigers play in Division 4 and the Dolphins in Division 2.
Had both teams been in the same CIF-SS division, a tiebreaker would have had to decide who went in as the No. 1 seed from the Prep League.
Prep League Final Regular Season Standings:
Westridge (24-5 overall, 10-2 in league)
Chadwick (17-5, 10-2)
Mayfield (15-12-1, 8-4)
Poly (13-8, 8-4)
Flintridge Prep (10-14-1, 4-8)
Rio Hondo Prep (5-14-1, 1-10)
Firebaugh (0-13, 0-11)
