State Volleyball Playoffs : Oden Wakes Up Irvine in Time to Beat Los Altos

The Los Altos High School girls’ volleyball team was cruising along Tuesday in the first game of its Division I state tournament semifinal match against Irvine, outplaying the defending state champions at every turn. Then, as Los Altos Coach Burt Fuller so eloquently observed, “Bev Oden got in the front row.”

She certainly did. Irvine’s all-everything middle blocker made 8 kills in the game, 16 in the match and led her team to a 15-11, 15-7, 15-7 victory.

Irvine will play Davis Saturday at 7:30 in Titan Gym at Cal State Fullerton. Davis beat Gahr in a semifinal Tuesday, 15-5, 15-2, 15-3.

Early on, it appeared that Irvine’s players would have all Saturday to themselves as Los Altos controlled the net, served well and jumped to a 7-1, then 11-5 lead in the first game.

Irvine’s only net activity was coming from outside hitter Melinda Norton, who had 3 kills in Irvine’s first 5 points.

“They (Los Altos) were doing a great job of placing the ball on hits and serves so that we couldn’t set Bev in the middle,” said Mark McKenzie, Irvine coach. “We had to keep setting outside.”

Norton’s fourth kill pulled Irvine to within 11-6 and then Oden took over. Oden, a 6-foot 1-inch senior, had 6 kills, a service winner and a key dig at game point as Irvine went on to score 9 consecutive points and win the game.

“We tried to get the points when we could, when Oden was in the back (row),” Fuller said. “There’s just no way you’re going to stop her once she’s in front.”

McKenzie said: “I think the key in the first game was that we hung tough when things were looking pretty dismal.”

Things looked anything but dismal for Irvine in the second game as it took an 8-0 lead. Sara Lockemy had 4 kills in that span and Los Altos had a difficult time passing the ball.

“We played that second game like we were in awe of what they had done in the first game,” Fuller said. “We never got it going.”

Well, they did, but not until the score was 14-5. It was at that point that Kristi Paaso, who had 11 kills in the match, rallied Los Altos for 6 consecutive points. But a block by Irvine’s Lockemy ended any hopes of a rally.

Los Altos hung tough in the third game, trailing, 8-6. But, as Oden had in the first game, Norton dominated, making 4 kills and a service ace to lead Irvine to the victory. Norton had 14 kills in the match.

“They have so many good players,” Fuller said. “Of course, Oden is the key, but people like Norton can kill you.”