There isn’t a substitute for expertise and the Taft Excessive ladies’ volleyball group has that in spades.
Because the common season winds down the Toreadors are closing in on the West Valley League title and probably the No. 1 seed within the eight-team Metropolis Part Open Division playoffs, which start Oct. 30.
Coach Arman Mercado attributes a lot of this season’s success to the management and dedication of his “Core Four,” setter Francine Baltazar-Shine, libero Gianella Tijamo and outdoors hitters Aleiah Carr and Eva Velarde, who’re the important thing gamers on a roster that features 11 seniors and 6 juniors. Baltazar-Shine’s understudy, sophomore setter Alexa Barajas, is the lone underclassman.
“They came during the pandemic year [2021] and I remember sitting them down as freshmen and telling them how special they could be,” Mercado mentioned. “Those four girls are volleyball nerds. They don’t miss practice, they’re leaders and they built the team around them and everyone’s buying in.”
Offering a presence on the internet are Ugandan twins Claudia Aber and Colette Ejang, 6-foot-2 center blockers and two-year starters.
“We have a bend-but-don’t-break mentality,” added Mercado, who has piloted the ladies to 5 Metropolis titles since he took over in 2000. “Our mental stamina is as good as any team we’ve had. The longer a match goes the better these girls are at figuring things out.”
Taft’s Francine Baltazar-Shine units the volleyball throughout a current match towards Cleveland.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Occasions)
Taft has gained all eight of its league matches, dropping solely two units within the course of, and will pull off a uncommon “Perfect 10” with victories towards fifth-place Chatsworth and second-place Granada Hills this week. The Toreadors completed 9-1 en path to successful league final 12 months and have been third the earlier three seasons.
“We’re taking it one match a time because in this league you can lose to anyone on a given day,” mentioned Mercado, whose group was the final to go undefeated within the West Valley, ending 10-0 in 2019. “In one respect it’s harder to win this league than City because you have to win eight or nine matches to do it whereas in City you only have to win three in a row. I don’t care about seeding. There’s no easy way to the finals.”
For the reason that Open Division debuted in 2016, a West Valley group has gained it on 4 events — 3 times by Granada Hills and final 12 months by El Camino Actual, which beat Taft in 4 units within the ultimate at Cal State Northridge. The Toreadors misplaced the 2018 ultimate to Palisades in 4 units and misplaced the 2022 ultimate to Granada Hills in 4 units.
“Eva, Gigi, Aleiah and I have been together all four years, we always hang out in the varsity room, just eating and talking,” mentioned Baltazar-Shine, who would cherish nothing greater than main the Toreadors to their first Open Division title and first part championship since back-to-back Division II crowns in 2013 and 2014.
“We’ve been to two finals and now we have one last chance to win it,” she mentioned. “Playing a team from your league in the finals is hard because you know each other so well. Last year it came down to who wanted it more. That was their best match ever so credit to them.”
Taft totaled 41 wins final fall, paced by Metropolis co-player of the 12 months Claire Mussell, a dominating center blocker who graduated within the spring. Carr and Baltazar-Shine have been on the All-Metropolis first group and Tijamo was a second-team choice.
Additionally making a powerful push for the highest seed is Venice, which is poised to assert its first outright Western League title since 2010 after rallying from down two units to 1 to beat archrival Palisades in 5 units on Oct. 2. The Gondoliers swept Palisades on its house court docket within the first league encounter and can wrap up league play undefeated in the event that they care for enterprise towards LACES and Hamilton this week.
Venice, which fell in 5 units to Taft within the Open semifinals final fall, was thought to be the preseason favourite and likewise encompasses a senior-heavy group highlighted by All-Metropolis first-teamer Samantha Lortie and second-teamers Amiekal Looney and Gaia Adeseun-Williams, together with senior libero/defensive specialist and captain Pauline Lao.
All-Metropolis exterior hitter Gaia Adeseun-Williams (5) has Venice on monitor for a league title.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Occasions)
To not be missed is 30-time Metropolis champion Palisades, which ousted Venice 25-20, 25-17 on the Crescenta Valley event in September and owns victories over Eagle Rock (twice) and Chatsworth, that are vying for berths within the Open Division together with Northern League front-runner Marshall in addition to El Camino Actual, Granada Hills and Cleveland of the West Valley. Grant is undefeated in East Valley League play whereas San Pedro and Narbonne are tied atop the Marine League.
Taft has not misplaced to a Metropolis opponent however has not confronted Venice or Palisades.
