Valencia Vikings girls’ volleyball showed grit in its first Foothill League win of the season.
The Vikings dug deep and fended off the hosting Canyon Cowboys, winning in straight sets, 29-27, 25-20, 25-21.
Canyon (14-10, 2-3) refused to go away at any point of the match, with multiple big runs that powered a few comebacks and ties.
Outside hitter Annika Puno led Valencia (4-10, 1-3) with 11 kills.
The Viking’s tricky serving and block surged throughout the match and would make all the difference to hold off the rallying Cowboys.
“After the first set, I told them, ‘A win’s a win,’” said Valencia coach Kristin Dolan. “Even if it’s an ugly win and that was certainly an ugly win in the first set. It looked like we kind of got our footing and each set we got a little bit more comfortable. My favorite thing about them is they want to compete. They’re aggressive. They have a never say die sort of attitude. They’re fun to coach, and they’re fun to watch play.”
Valencia led 24-21 in the first set but Canyon refused to be put away. The Cowboys kept finding ways to add points and tied the score 24-24, off a kill from middle blocker Olivia Turner. The middle blocker’s play was critical but it was setter Theone Nyguen’s one-handed desperation set that erased the first set point and gave Turner an angle in the middle.
Turner’s kill was the first for any Canyon player other than outside hitter Parys Taylor. The junior outside was Valencia’s focus and the Vikings did anything they could to keep Taylor off her typical 20-kill game.
Contrarily, it was Valencia outside Sophia Lagman that ended the set with her first kill of the night. Lagman was the seventh different Viking to register a kill in the first game.
Taylor gave Canyon four straight points in the second with a pair of aces and kills. However, the second set belonged to Vikings middle blocker Makayla Garcia on the opposite side of the net. Valencia’s senior middle totaled six of her nine kills and two blocks in the second set.
Short serving to Taylor and matching up Garcia with her was the main game plan for Valencia.
“A lot of today’s game plan was the short serving and they executed,” Dolan said. “I feel like we got them out of system and forced them to do something they were uncomfortable with.”
Taylor still made an impact and finished the night with nine kills and four aces.
After trailing 9-11, Canyon started rolling 7-1 run. The two teams went blow for blow for the next few plays until Valencia found some breathing room late with some solid serving.
Vikings freshman middle blocker Nyla Wildstead also came alive late in the match, where she added two of her eight kills, including one for match point. Wilstead also finished with four blocks.
A Puno kill sealed the deal and gave Valencia its first Foothill League win of the season. It’s been a trial by fire for one of Dolan’s younger teams but the coach has seen her players take numerous strides since summer.
“We’ve improved tremendously, but they’ve always been these gritty people, they just came here this way,” Dolan said. “The setter-middle connection is something that’s gotten substantially better. Our serve receive passing is substantially better, and our serving is substantially better. We just have to keep moving in the right direction.”
Both teams control their own destiny and will compete for a top-four spot in league and a trip to the playoffs.
“I just want to see them continue what we started here with Canyon and continue to go up because then we come back to the top of the league with Hart, Saugus and West Ranch and we got to make sure that we’re playing our best volleyball at that point,” Dolan said.
Valencia heads to Golden Valley, while Canyon hosts Castaic on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
