The Culver City High School girls’ volleyball team lost a heartbreaking match to a tenacious Elsinore team, three games to two last Saturday night inside the Del Goodyear Gym on campus. The narrow defeat left the players and fans buzzing well after the match was over.
The Lady Centaurs ended their season with 26-7 record that included two CIF Division 3AA playoff wins against Brethren Christian of Huntington Beach and Poly of Riverside.
Culver City dropped its five-set match to Elsinore 25-13, 25-21, 18-25, 23-25 and 11-15 in the final set.
This was the second straight year the Centaurs recorded 25 or more wins.
Championships don’t always define a season, and in Culver City’s case, their 26 wins means a very good season. They won back-to-back Ocean League titles. Their senior class was as good as advertised. After the Elsinore match, Centaur coach Joe Manzo had no regrets. “We played hard, but they outplayed us those last three games,” he said.
The Way It Goes
“We stuck with them, but in the end the ball did not drop in our favor. Elsinore just happened to play better defense. We are human. We are going to make mistakes.”
Senior captains Mina Grant and Taylor Selfridge did an exellent job all season, and especially against Elsinore. “That was the best game Mina and Taylor played in the last three years,” Manzo said.
Grant said that Culver City knew what Elsinore was going to do, but they still could not stop their momentum. “We kind of got a little lazy,” she said. “We thought we were going to win, but we did not make the adjustments.
Another senior star, Armani Moultrie, said the Lady Centaurs needed more energy in the final three games. “We played hard,” she said. “We had a dropoff at the end. But I am very proud of our team.”
Freshman Lena Johnson and sophomore Krista Hernandez had a slightly different opinion of the game. “We died down at the end,” said Hernandez. “We got tired after winning the first two games. We need to prove that we can do better. We should have put them away but they were very consistent those last three games.”
Johnson had this to say: “I think as a team we bounded so much this year we got comfortable, but we played our hearts out.”
Manzo is already looking forward to next year. “We are going for three league championships in a row,” he said. “We have a lot of good players returning. The junior varsity and freshman teams have outstanding players. The Middle School program was very good this year. All of the girls play club volleyball.”
The Lady Centaur roster included Taylor Burks, Mina Grant, Kristra Hernandez, Lena Johnson, Delany Melendez, Claire Miller, Armani Moultrie, Katrina McCoy, Adili Rikondja, Veronica Scupine, Taylor Selfridge, Joanna Smith, McKenna Stevens and Jessica Stewart.
Changing Sports
The girls’ basketball season starts Monday afternoon when the defending CIF champions are home against Crossroads of Santa Monica at 5:30. On Wednesday the girls’ basketball tournament continues when the Lady Centaurs take on St. Bernard at 7 on the Culver City campus.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
