Torrey Pines Sings Familiar Tune After Victory

DEL MAR —  The song may have changed, but the melody remains the same.

And Torrey Pines has heard this tune before.

Torrey Pines (30-2), seeded second in the Division I Southern California regional playoffs, defeated Arroyo Grande, 15-9, 15-11, 15-17, 18-16 at Torrey Pines High Tuesday night.

The only real surprise was that they didn’t go to a fifth game, try as they did. On Thursday and Saturday nights Torrey Pines won the Division II San Diego Section title and a state playoff berth, both in five games.

“My heart’s getting used to it,” said Torrey Pines Coach Jim Harrah. “We win the first two, then we think it’s over.”

Arroyo Grande (18-1), the 2-A Southern Section champion, certainly didn’t.

Led by middle blocker Cary Wendell (28 kills), who Harrah says is considered the top junior player in the county, the Eagles let 6-1 and 13-7 leads trickle away. The Falcons pulled even at 14-all in the third before Arroyo Grande put the game away when a Torrey Pines set went astray.

“We practiced blocking the middle because we heard so much about her,” Christy Peters said. She got her kills, but it didn’t hurt us offensively. Out defense did what it wa supposed to do.”

The momentum the Falcons had built up seemed all for nothing. Not so said senior Peters, who made some key kills as an outside hitter and finished with 14 kills.

“Since we came back by so much in the third, we didn’t let the momentum get away from us,” she said.

At least not until, the Falcons led Arroyo Grande come back from a 14-8 deficit. From there on, it was teeter-totter until Amy Peters connected on three consecutive sharp-angled kills from the outside to move them into the semifinal Saturday night against Mira Costa, which defeated Bakersfield North 15-12, 15-13, 15-17, 10-15, 15-10.

Amy Peters led Torrey Pines with 21 kills.