Westlake loses in third round of volleyball playoffs

The Westlake High School girls’ volleyball team won’t remember this year as a repeat of 2002, the year they were runnersup in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Division II-AA championship.

But it’s been an admirable season nevertheless as the first-place Warriors finished 21-5 overall and 10-4 in the Marmonte League, good for first-place.

The Warriors beat the host Martin Luther King Wolves in the first round of the CIF-SS II-AA playoffs on Nov. 11 and the Pasadena Bulldogs in the second round two evenings later. Both wins were by 3-2 scores.

However, in the quarterfinal game on Saturday night, Westlake lost to the visiting Mira Costa Mustangs of Manhattan Beach, 3-1.

"There’s been a lot of adversity to start with," said Westlake head coach Doug Magorien as he reviewed the season. "To start the season, we had hurt people, and at the end of the season we lost one of the most crucial members of the team (senior setter Courtney Wade), our center who runs the team."

Senior outside hitter Amy Chu and setter Cathy Quilico, a freshman, brought up from the JV team, stepped up to fill the void.

Wade, who tore all the ligaments in her left ankle when she ran down the stairs and missed one, had to sit and watch the Warriors’ three playoff games. The last game she played was the Nov. 6 league game against Royal.

"It was difficult to sit on the bench," she said. "It’s just the way it happens. Our season’s been like that. We do well and then something happens. It just so happens that I did it to myself. I thought there was a chance that I would be able to come back."

But returning to the lineup wasn’t possible.

The Warriors beat host M.L. King, the Sunkist League first-place team, on game scores of 16-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-17, 15-12 as senior outside hitter Brittany Prater led the Warriors with 12 kills and freshman outside hitter Alex Johnson added an additional eight for visiting Westlake at Riverside.

Westlake next played at home and defeated Pasadena, the Pacific League second-place team, 25-13, 19-25, 17-25, 25-17, 15-13.

In matches against the Bulldogs, Prater was credited with 12 kills and 12 digs, senior middle blocker Rachel Smith made seven kills and six blocks, and Johnson had five consecutive service aces to end the deciding fifth game as she finished with 10 aces and four kills.

Magorien said that even though the team’s playing became erratic, he was pleased by how the girls reacted to numerous adjustments that had to be made this season.

Specifically regarding the loss of Wade and the team facing a strong Pasadena team, Magorien said, "The thing I think that is really huge is that we had a freshman who came off the bench to win the game for us when we were down."

It happened with, he said, "Five straight jump serves in a row by freshman Alex Johnson. We were down 10-13. It’s real exciting to think about that."

Sizing up Mira Costa, the Bay League first-place team prior to the Saturday game, Maorieng said the Warriors were facing an incredibly strong team. "I think, in a way, we have nothing to lose going against them. We’ve just got to hope they aren’t having a great day and (we have to) play the match of our lives."

In the game against the Mustangs, the Warriors lost 25-18, 22-25, 25-10, 25-14 at Westlake. Prater got 12 kills and 10 digs and Smith made 11 kills and three blocks.

Prater said that the CIF playoff week had been a huge barrier for the Warriors to get over because of losing Wade, their starting center for the past four years.

"So we’re overcoming more stuff," she said. "But I think—even at the beginning of the year overcoming what we had to—has really helped us overcome this. At the end, we all just had to play for each other and we did that. We really came together and played well."

The season will be remembered as one in which the Warriors played their best in the face of several tough blows—and they took it into the CIF sectional playoffs as far as they could.