The Chaminade Eagles entered Tuesday’s game at West Ranch undefeated, but by the final buzzer, they left the Wildcats campus with a loss on their record.
The Wildcats (4-1) defeated Chaminade (6-1) in straight sets, 25-19, 31-29 and 25-14, to record their fourth win of the season.
“I like to keep my team adaptable,” West Ranch head coach Jamey Ker said. “And I think we did a really good job of that, and we made adjustments on the fly so by the third set we knew who they were and how to get their number and ultimately, I think that something I take pride in with my team is that they’re going to figure things out quickly on the fly.”
In the first set West Ranch jumped into an early 7-3 lead over Chaminade after setter Dani Clewis led her offense with back-to-back sets to her teammates.
With Clewis’ precise sets, Chaminade had no answer for opposite hitter Devyn Kobe, who led the charge on offense for the Wildcats.
“She had a nice bounce-back,” Ker said. “She had a rough weekend, made too many errors, but I could tell she had a chip on her shoulder for this week’s match, and she showed up big time.”
Kobe had 18 kills throughout all three sets, and 27 attack attempts, 10 more than her next closest teammate.
“I’m really proud of her for fighting as hard as she did to have that chip on her shoulder and really just be dominating tonight,” he said.
Despite a rally from the Eagles, who were able to cut the deficit within seven at the end of the first set, Kobe put the Wildcats on match point after an explosive kill that was set up from Clewis.
West Ranch would take ultimately take the first set from Chaminade after the Eagles suffered an error.
The story of the second set was a back-and-forth battle.
West Ranch still kept up the momentum from the first when the Wildcats jumped to an early 11-3 lead. But after a few errors, all the momentum was with the Eagles rallying back and cutting the deficit.
Chaminade would wind up tying the set at 24 apiece, which prompted a timeout from Ker. From that point onward it was a scoring frenzy between both teams.
Both went on to score back and forth and tie the game from 25 onward to 29 a piece.
In the end, leading 30-29 after match point, West Ranch edged out Chaminade after Kobe set up the ball to Lola Van Why, who tipped the ball over the net off the blocker for the win.
“The chemistry is really good with this group,” Ker said. “So even this weekend when we played a tournament as well as tonight when we get challenged and we get into those long overtime matches or sets, we almost always handle them incredibly well.”
In the third Chaminade jumped ahead to start off the set with a 4-0 lead.
Middle blocker Gionia Nicolas-Piccolino was then substituted into the match and ended the rally with a kill that would set the Wildcats back on track.
West Ranch would go on to tie the set at 6 apiece and then score three unanswered points and extend it to 9-6 after a Karleigh Larson kill.
The Wildcats would end up winning the third set by a comfortable margin over Chaminade after Clewis led the way for her team to sweep the Eagles.
Clewis had an impressive all-around performance against Chaminade with five kills, six digs and one block.
“Dani is just a stud,” Ker said. “She’s just always going to be rock for us, both emotionally and physically. Playing a position that she plays at such an important position to have is solid. And I have every confidence in the world of her every single second of the day.”
West Ranch will look to carry the momentum with more non-league action on Thursday at Chatsworth in a matchup against No. 3 nationally ranked Sierra Canyon.
