Hamlet Nalbandyan
LA CANADA HIGH -- It's not that Goleta Dos Pueblos High dominated the
La Canada High boys' volleyball team Tuesday, but it was the Spartans
that eventually dug their own graves.
Slow starts in each game and 47 team errors proved to be too much to
overcome as the Chargers won a CIF Southern Section Division II
second-round match, 15-12, 15-7, 15-6, at La Canada High.
In each game, La Canada trailed by at least eight points before it
could get into a consistent rhythm.
"The reason for the slow starts was that they are a tough team to beat
when they have all their players in," La Canada Coach Kevin Boyke said.
"When it got to the point that they ran out of subs, that's when we
made our run. That's why our runs came late in the match."
La Canada, the third-place team from the Rio Hondo League, jumped out
to a 2-1 lead early in the first game, but not much else went right for
the Spartans for much of the game.
Dos Pueblos went on a 12-0 run, much of it due to Spartan mishaps. The
Spartans were able to get sideouts on a consistent basis, but couldn't
get anything after that.
After trailing, 13-1, the Spartans (11-10) finally awoke. The play of
middle hitters Greg Gaudino and Jason Kim led them to a 6-0 run and
eventually cut the lead to 14-12. But errors -- La Canada committed 21 in
the game -- came back to haunt the Spartans as Kim's tip hit into the net
to end the game.
Dos Pueblos (14-9), the second-place representative from the Channel
Islands League, got off to an 11-3 lead in the second game. The Spartans
were able to cut it to 12-7, but an error, ace from Allan Mount and a
block from Damon Jenkins ended the game.
The Chargers showed their depth in the third game. Seven players
finished the match with five or more kills, led by Scott Johnson's 16 and
Josh Smith's 11.
In the third, Dos Pueblos got off to a 14-1 lead. La Canada cut it to
14-6, but could get no closer as a kill from Mount ended its season.
However, the Spartans have nothing to hang their heads about. The 2000
campaign was best in school history.
"When the season started, we had major things to overcome. We had a
lot of inexperienced players and didn't have a setter," said Boyke, who
guided the Spartan girls' volleyball squad to CIF Southern Section
Division III semifinals this season.
Gaudino and Kim led La Canada with 12 kills and Timmy Lee added eight
and seven digs. Gaudino and Phillip Swenson each had five blocks and
William Kim had 34 assists.
