VAN NUYS, Ca – The second of three matches of Championship Saturday at Birmingham, was a meeting between the Mendez Jaguars from Boyle Heights and the East Valley Falcons out of North Hollywood. These two D2 schools would also be playing for the Los Angeles City Section girls volleyball championship. East Valley had flirted with this position before, and this time they put their stamp on their first championship, overcoming the Jaguars in four sets, 25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 25-8. 

This truly was an environment worthy of a championship final. The gym was filled with fans on both sides. Parents held up handmade poster board signs written in glitter. Feet stomped and shook the stands as the first set got underway. 

East Valley overpowered Mendez in this first set due in part to the strength of sophomore Margaux Lane. In fact, she’d remain instrumental in her team’s success throughout the match. Lane had seven kills in just this set. The Falcons’ Medha Paidimarri added to their lead with an ace and two kills. Mendez’s Gianna Cavalier tried to keep the Jaguars in it, as she came up big with two aces and five points on her serve. However, East Valley maintained an eight-point lead which led them to win the first set 25-17. 

In the second set, Mendez kept the score closer. Nathalie Bustilla contributed three kills. The Falcons’ Lily Kelsey, also had three. Layne, again, was there for the team with three kills and a block. Four aces at the end, helped to give East Valley the advantage and the set win to go up 2-0 for the match. 

In set three, with Mendez facing elimination, they needed to turn it up if they wanted to have any chance at pulling out a come-from-behind win. Thanks to great serving, they were able to keep themselves in the mix. Mendez’s Rosa Bautista served eight straight points including two aces and Kimberly Vargas added an ace as well. East Valley battled back from a large deficit, hoping to complete the sweep, even holding a lead late in the set. Ultimately, Gisela Vega served a set-winning one to claim the third set victory. 

“Sometimes when, you know, you’re super close to something really big, it gets a little fearful,” said East Valley head coach Bryan Ronsayro. “Reminding everybody, hey, if we ever experience fear, we punch that thing in the face. At some point we were down 13, maybe 10, 8. And I was like, forget the score. Let’s just focus on playing our very best. And whatever happens, let’s take that momentum into the fourth set. And that’s exactly what happened.” 

Not wanting to miss another opportunity to close out the match, East Valley took it to Mendez from that point forward. The Falcons held the Jaguars to only eight points in the fourth set with Layne again literally “killing it” to help her team claim the match win. 

“I mean, we did our part. Stuck with the game plan and came out successful,” commented Ronsayro. 

East Valley secured a bye in the first round of the CIF State playoffs, and will have an all-valley battle on Thursday when they host the Division 3 champion Panorama Pythons. First serve for that contest is set for 6:00 P.M.