STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Harvard Picture Perfect : Prep volleyball: Wolverines rout La Jolla in first round.
STUDIO CITY — Thirty minutes before match time, Coach Jess Quiroz was flipping through a stack of newly developed photographs.
They were celebratory snapshots of the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ volleyball team, which won the Southern Section Division II title on Saturday.
Some advice for Quiroz, whose Wolverines swamped La Jolla, 15-2, 15-4, 15-6, in a first-round match in the Division III State playoffs Tuesday:
Buy some more film.
The Wolverines (24-1), top-seeded in the Southern Region, were picture perfect.
They efficiently worked the middle, with blockers Bettina Korek and Lindsay McNiel each registering 10 kills.
They frustrated eighth-seeded La Jolla (25-6) by serving 11 aces. The Wolverines controlled the net defensively, with 10 blocks to La Jolla’s two.
To even the most casual observer, there was little hangover from Saturday’s title victory.
“It really hasn’t sunk in, which could be a benefit because we keep on going for State,” McNiel said. “We realize Saturday was a great win, but our season’s not over.”
McNiel and Korek helped stake Harvard-Westlake to a 14-1 lead in the first game, reversing a recent trend of slow starts for the Wolverines.
Jenni Kriste (30 assists) showed no effects of a head cold, constantly feeding the middle with quick sets. The combinations were devastating.
“We don’t see anything like this down in San Diego,” said La Jolla Coach Kate Pearson, whose team lost in the Division III final of the San Diego Section.
Korek and McNiel kept up the heat in the second game, combining for seven kills in the middle as the Wolverines ran out to a 12-0 lead.
“The middle is the hardest thing to stop,” Korek said, “because it happens so quick.”
The third game was almost equally rapid for the Wolverines, who parlayed a 7-2 lead into a 56-minute sweep.
For the first time in weeks, Harvard-Westlake can take things slowly. The Wolverines don’t play again until Saturday, when they play host to Lemoore.
Until then, they can take satisfaction in their victory over La Jolla, which has become a playoff rival.
The teams have met three consecutive times in State playoffs. La Jolla won in 1993, but the Wolverines have won the last two meetings.
Said Korek: “We didn’t want our season to end.”
La Jolla was led by Elodie Ottow and Ashley Dean, who had five kills each.
Lesley Coben had eight kills and Christine Bohle added five for Harvard-Westlake.
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