High School Girls and Boys Volleyball 2006 and 2007 The AV Hub Lancaster California Antelope Vall
ey Antelope Valley Hub California AV Business Directory Lancaster Palmdale Quartz Hill Littlerock Pearblossom Mojave Rosemond LLano Crystal Aire Acton Agua Dulce Antelope Acres Lake Hughes Lake Elizabeth Mojave Des
ert Mountain High Lancaster Schools Palmdale Schools AV High School District Edwards Air Force Base Plant 42
2007-2008
Antelope Valley Girl's
 NOT ENOUGH - Highland's Danielle Moore lunges for a dig against Lancaster during their match at Lancaster High School Thursday. The Eagles went on to sweep the Bulldogs, 3-0. BERNARD KANE/Valley Press |
By ERIC BACA
Valley Press Staff Writer
"The majority of them have been with me since their time on JV," head coach Dave Gutierrez said. These girls are competitors no matter what. They are so mentally attuned to do what's best every time. They aren't worried about the scoreboard - they have such a mature approach to the game. We'll miss them."
Led by the senior duo of Ashley Robinson and Alectra Edison, the Eagles showed time and again why they are one of the few remaining legitimate GL threats.
In the opening game, each team struggled to build its momentum as both traded points, before an ace by Highland's Katy Allen broke the match open for the Bulldogs, taking an 8-4 lead and pulling away quickly.
With the score 14-11 in Highland's favor, the Eagles inched their way back, finally closing in slowly to 20-17 deficit. A hard, powerful slam by Allen seemed like it put the game far out the Eagles' reach. But the Eagles battled back to a 24-24 score, erasing what was once an eight-point deficit. The Eagles amazing comeback, along with the first game, was capped off by a slam by Lancaster's Robinson. For Gutierrez, his team was not focused on the scoreboard.
"When it (comeback) happened, I don't think anyone realized it," Gutierrez said. "Whether we are up or down we play consistently. The same thing has happened in other games of the season."
With the first game secured, the Eagles and Bulldogs followed up their tenacious, never-quit attitude in game one, with an equally intense performance. Dives, high hits and long volleys dominated the opening sequences. Even when Lancaster took an 18-13 lead -its biggest margin of the game - Highland repeatedly found ways to stay in the match.
A close on-the-line winner for Highland seemed to shift the momentum back to the Bulldog's sidelines, as they came back 24-22. But Robinson, after a short break, reawoke the Eagles' offense by slamming a decisive winner down the center of the court, and the Eagles seized the second game of the match. Robinson finished with seven kills on the night, while Edison contributed eight of her own.
It was obvious that the Highland girls, led by coach Shannon Macias, came to play. The Bulldogs opened up the third match with four unanswered points. A quick Eagle timeout broke the rally of the Bulldogs, and eventually the Eagles climbed to 23-16 lead before finishing of the Bulldogs 25-17. Despite her team's loss, Macias remained impressed with their performance on the night.
"The girls played well tonight," Macias said. "The girls are a lot better than they were at Sylmar. Lancaster just outplayed us. It was nice to see that the match could have gone either way tonight. We're still in CIF, and that's what we are focusing on. If they play like they did tonight, we should go pretty far."
For the Bulldogs, Allen finished with nine kills and 16 digs, while teammates Dreena Orozco had 16 digs and Rachel Cole had eight blocks.
Although impressed with his team's performance, Guiterrez said the improvement of Highland in recent weeks wouldn't allow for his team to take anything for granted.
"This was a good match for us," Guiterrez said. "Highland impressed me all night. I think this is one of the best matches played all year. The girls really stepped it up, and we needed it against Highland tonight."
