GATEWAY LEAGUE GIRLS VOLLEYBALL – Norwalk bounces back from sluggish first set, takes next three against La Mirada

By Loren Kopff

@LorenKopff on X

A recurring theme for the Norwalk High girls volleyball team resurfaced last Thursday when the Lancers visited La Mirada High in the Gateway League opener. Junior middle blocker Addison Tufaga began the match serving eight straight points, five of which were aces.

That prompted Norwalk head coach Paola Nava to call a rare timeout that early in a match.

“Just making sure they were understanding what was going on and the reason behind the 8-0 [deficit] was our errors…and making sure they need to make a switch in their energy because we’re going more sets; the match is not finished,” said Nava. “[And] understanding that if we can flip this game around, we can go into the second set with the momentum on our side.”

The Lancers responded with six straight points and although they lost the set, junior outside hitter/middle blocker Mirei Sanchez dominated the next two sets and Norwalk came away with a 22-25, 25-12, 25-15, 25-20 against a La Mirada squad that is struggling with a new head coach and four returning players from last season’s team that graduated nine members.

Norwalk would take a one-point lead at 11-10 on an ace from senior opposite hitter Giselle Salazar. But a minute later, the Matadores reeled off seven straight points, thanks to the serving of junior outside hitter Keliana Gonzalez, who added three aces.

But the momentum shifted briefly to Norwalk as junior outside hitter Nataly Felix had her first kill, then freshman middle blocker Lailanee Cano had three straight aces followed by another kill from Felix.

“It was just sloppy plays on our end and staying undisciplined on defense,” said Nava of the set. “Our big thing in our philosophy is controlling the controllables; making sure that there are balls [in action] during serving and limit the errors. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that in the first set. We couldn’t control what we were doing.”

“Throughout the entire game, I was just excited to see…for us, it’s more about the growth over the wins and how the girls are developing as a team considering they’re all playing at this high level for the first time,” said La Mirada first-year head coach Kayla Long, formerly of Price High. “We had a lot of seniors last year, so having all of them come up from junior varsity and playing travel for the first time last year…has been interesting to see and exciting.”

But the Matadores had just enough to hold on for the three-point win. After that, it was all Norwalk, which bolted out to a 10-1 lead in the second set as sophomore defensive specialist Antoinette Espina reeled off nine consecutive points, and led by as many as 14 points. Sanchez, who had four kills in the opening set, added six in the second set with Salazar pitching in with four kills and senior opposite hitter Jeina Lapena her first three kills of the match.

“We rely on her heavy back there on the end line,” said Nava of Espina. “I think she’s one of our stronger servers. Her consistency today was pretty well.”

It was nearly the same in the third set, in which the hosts never led as Sanchez had three straight kills to snap an early 1-1 tie. Then with Norwalk up 5-3, Cano had her second kill, followed by six straight points served by Sanchez, including two more aces.

The Matadores, though, had one more push in them as Gonzalez served six straight points with four aces and a kill and block from Tufaga. But they were unable to get to within a point the rest of the way.

The fourth set would feature three ties and a lead change in the first rotation with La Mirada leading 9-6 after an ace from junior opposite hitter Khari Julio. Moments later, junior setter Isabel Fimbers served an ace for an 11-7 lead before the Lancers strung together seven straight points. The final one was a power slam by Sanchez, prompting Long to call a timeout.

Julio’s only kill of the match tied the set at 16-16 before kills from sophomore setter Mahalia Urriza and Cano, followed by consecutive aces from Sanchez gave the Lancers the extra cushion they needed.

Sanchez led all players with 21 kills, had four aces and a pair of blocks while Salazar was next with nine kills, three aces and a block. Six other players combined for 18 kills while senior libero Nayeli Sanchez led the Lancers with eight aces. Urriza had 27 assists and as a team, Norwalk had 27 aces.

“She does really well,” said Nava of Mirei Sanchez, her 6’1” veteran offensive leader. “When her team supports her and has her back, she can do whatever she wants. She’s not perfect; not saying that any of our players are perfect. She does have her faults; we all do. But when she’s on, she’s on and it’s unstoppable and she just gets excited. Her energy kind of lifts up the spirits of the team.”

La Mirada (1-14) was paced by Gonzalez (10 kills, nine aces), junior outside hitter Ahri Grayson (seven kills) and Tufaga (six aces, one block, one kill).

“She’s one of our captains and she’s definitely someone we lean on when we’re in a bit of a rut,” said Long of Gonzalez, one of the four returning players. “The entire team counts on her, and mentally and physically, she’s always there to pick up her teammates. She’s just an overall great athlete and teammate.”

Norwalk (7-6) hosted Downey High this past Tuesday and welcomed Warren High on Sept. 18 before visiting Mayfair High on Thursday to end the first round of league play. La Mirada went to Mayfair this past Tuesday and will travel to Downey on Tuesday.

“We look ahead a lot; our girls try to look ahead a lot,” said Nava. “Our mentality after the Whittier Tournament was worry about today. Worry about today and tomorrow, you can worry about tomorrow and so on and so forth. I think that’s going to be our mentality going forward. We can worry about Downey on Tuesday, and I think doing that takes a really good grip on their mental, and it kind of keeps them in control of what they’re doing and not putting that pressure on them ahead of time.”

“As tough as the season has been record-wise, we always talk about how there have been moments of growth of what we’ve been really working on and focusing on in practice,” said Long. “Each game, they’re improving on specific aspects of what we have been working on. As a coach, that’s all you can really ask for.”