Westridge Girls Volleyball Team. Photo courtesy Melanie Horn By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor Heading into Thursday’s second round of the CIF-SS girls volleyball playoffs, the Pasadena Sports Now coverage zone had four teams competing. La Salle, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and Ramona Convent all saw their seasons come to an end with losses. Westridge, though, […]
Westridge Girls Volleyball Team. Photo courtesy Melanie Horn
By BRIAN REED-BAIOTTO, Sports Editor
Heading into Thursday’s second round of the CIF-SS girls volleyball playoffs, the Pasadena Sports Now coverage zone had four teams competing.
La Salle, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and Ramona Convent all saw their seasons come to an end with losses.
Westridge, though, is still standing. Barely.
The Tigers held off a very tough Los Altos team, 25-19, 21-25, 25-15, 25-27, 15-9, to escape Hacienda Heights with a win.
Allison Martinez, Makana Meyer, Angelica and Krystal Raymundo and Eryn Boken all played huge for Westridge.
Martinez had 37 kills, Meyer 14 and Boken 13 kills in a remarkable show of balance.
Meyer also had a match-high 5 aces.
Angelica Raymundo had 65 assists and 24 digs, and Krystal Ramundo added 17 digs.
“We really pushed through as a team,” the Tigers’ freshman libero Krystal Raymundo said. “I think the drive to win was what helped us close. In the fifth set, we played with a sense of urgency and like every point was championship point.”
Westridge (24-5) will host Monrovia (24-6) in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Division 4 playoffs at 7 p.m.
It will be a battle of two top-10 teams.
The Tigers are ranked No. 4 in the CIF-SS Division 4 polls, and the Wildcats are No. 5.
Monrovia advanced with a four-set win over Rim of the World on Thursday.
Quotable:
Westridge coach Otto Lacayo: It was nice to see we can survive in 5. It showed we were mentally tough down the stretch. We initially were serving poorly and it got better as the match went on. The Raymundo sisters, Angelica and Krystal, they stepped it up and played a hell of a game. Angelica got the sets and Krystal got the digs we needed. We were able to recover and battle back. There were times where we did struggle, but our kids proved to be mentally tough. They kept it going. Los Altos is an incredible team. They fought hard throughout and played inspired volleyball.”
