With the regular season closed out, The Bishop’s School and La Jolla High boys’ volleyball teams were hoping to find CIF gold in their nets soon.
At Bishop’s, head coach Jacqueline Bernardin’s Knights were sporting a 17-4 overall mark (8-0 and undefeated Coastal League champions).
According to Bernardin, key players have included senior outside hitter Scotty McPherson, junior outside hitter Chris Alleyne, junior libero Alec Swanson and freshman setter/right side Owen Gallahue.
“We achieved our first goal,” Bernardin said, “and that was to win league. And now, our goal is to win the Division II CIF championship and have a blast doing it.”
The Knights opened CIF play winning three games over El Camino High before falling last week to eventual champ Escondido in the second round.
At neighboring La Jolla High, head coach Dave Jones and the Vikings finished the regular season 7-5 in Western League and 17-14 overall. Junior captains Joe Palatella (middle blocker) and Jack Chapman (outside hitter) helped avenge an earlier loss to Cathedral Catholic, upending the Dons 19-25, 27-25, 25-23, 26-28, 15-13 in the team’s final league match. “We were moved from Division III to Division I this year in CIF,” Jones said, “due to the overall strength of our program, which will make playoffs more of a challenge than ever. We received the fifth seed (of 12 teams) heading into our first-round match versus visiting Mission Hills.
“In terms of goals,” Jones added, “we know where we want to finish this season, but to get there at this point, we’ve got to remain focused on the next opponent in front of us at any given time, and right now, that’s Mission Hills.”
The Vikings defeated Mission Hills by scores of 25-17, 25-16 and 25-11. In its next meeting, versus Steele Canyon, La Jolla won the event by a 3-1 score, registering games of 25-21, 30-32, 25-14, 25-18. La Jolla would end up losing its May 22 playoff matchup to Del Norte (3-1) by scores of 25-20, 20-25, 25-18- 25-19. Softball Teams Look to Score Wins As the final games of the regular season dwindled down, several local scholastic softball teams looked to lock up seeds in the CIF playoffs.
At The Bishop’s School, the Lady Knights, under head coach Art Schiele, finished regular-season action at 18-1. In their first CIF playoff game in the postseason, the Lady Knights scored a 5-0 win over Holtville High, following that up with an 11-1 romp over High Tech SD in the second round last weekend.
According to Schiele, key players have included junior captain/third baseman Sabrina Moreno (leads San Diego County with 52 RBI, has 5 home runs); junior captain/shortstop Aida Ayala (batting .464, with 3 home runs); freshman center fielder Livy Schiele (top 10 in San Diego County in batting average, .600, on-base percentage, .681), runs scored, 40, and stolen bases, 26); and sophomore pitcher Grace Young (10-0 record, 1.73 ERA).
“This team is ready to work harder right now to ensure that we’re playing our best softball at the end of the season,” Art Schiele stated. “Our goals of winning league and CIF championships are still within reach.”
At La Jolla High, the Lady Vikings, under head coach Anthony Sarain, have had a tough go of it this season, sitting at 3-23.
“We are still hoping to squeeze into the Division IV playoffs,” Sarain noted as the season wound down.
At La Jolla Country Day School, the Lady Torreys, under head coach Lissa Lewis, were 5-13 heading into the final week of regular-season play.
“It has been a rough season,” Lewis said, “but this team has fought to stay in the game. This showed when we played Santa Fe Christian going into the ninth inning. Our pitchers, Jacqueline Nelson and Kayla Magid, have stepped up and worked together. Our hitters, seniors Taylor Johnson, Emily Springfield and Jacqueline Nelson and sophomore Kayla Magid and freshman Samantha Moothart, continued to get stronger throughout the season.”
Lewis added that she is most proud of the work this team has put in and that they continued to find ways to improve on and off the field.