In the Battle of East and West, Granada prevails in four to spoil Verdugo’s Open Division Postseason Debut

Last season, the East Valley League saw five teams advance to the City Section semifinals in their respective divisions, including this season's Valley Sports Telegram No 5 ranked Verdugo Hills Dons and No 6 Polytechnic Parrots. These programs also became the first two teams to go to the highest division in the City from the East Valley. The first round had the VST number one team Granada Hills Highlanders take on the Dons from Birmingham Community Charter and third seed Taft Toreadors hosting the Parrots.

The Highlanders didn’t waste any time starting the match with a four point lead thanks to kills by senior middles Grace Pickard and Jessica Eldridge. The Dons responded with back to back kills from all-time school kills leader, senior flame hitter Ana Vasquez off assists from her cousin Yahaira Vazquez. Verdugo Hills would take their first lead at 6-5 on a hitting error by Granada Hills. On the next play, Vasquez had a nice two-handed block up the middle on Eldridge to build it to 7-5. Granada Hills went on a 5 point surge to put them up 11-8, but the co-East Valley League Champion Dons made the Highlanders uncomfortable throughout the first. They matched Granada point for point and, in the end, the Dons took it 25-22, marking the first time a team has ever won a set not from the WVL.

Granada Hills went on to take the next three sets by the scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-17. The Highlanders were led on the offensive side of the ball by the Bellodas-Lazo duo of junior outside hitter Valeria and sophomore libero and outside Veronica. Valeria registered a double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs as Veronica had 11 kills. Senior setter and captain Mason Kelley finished with 36 assists to go along with 10 digs and six service aces.

Verdugo Hills was anchored by the duo of Ana and Yahaira as well had steady defense play from senior Ika Vukic and sophomores Jaedyn Smith and Emily Wagner. Ana added to her career kill totals with 18 kills against Granada - now sitting her at 827 kills to go along with eight digs and six blocks. Yahaira finished with a triple-double totalling 15 kills, 14 digs and 13 assists. Vukic, Smith and Wagner combined for 40 digs in the match.

This match also featured two of the top coaches in the City Section with over 800 wins and six girls championships each for both Tom Harp of Granada Hills and Will Reinhart of Verdugo Hills, It was also the first time these two legendary City programs have faced each other since 2009 - with Granada Hills taking four of six previous matches. Granada improved to 14-5 in the Open Divisional Era that started back in 2016 when the Highlanders went back to back in ‘16 and ’17.

Harp commented about how shocked he was for the way his squad was able to overcome Verdugo Hills considering Granada Hills was without All-City selection and current co-West Valley League Most Valuable Player, senior outside hitter Hannah Bernstein, who was out sick. Kelley also added “We really had to play for each other, and this game really meant a lot for the team.”

Reinhart was disappointed with the outcome of the match, but did go on to praise his team, “We gave it a good effort. It clearly wasn’t enough though. Our players performed at the best level of their careers, and for that I am very proud.”

Granada Hills will advance to the City Section Open Division semifinals against the reigning Division Champs Venice, who upset Western League Champions and 30 time City Champs Palisades 30-28, 25-18 & 25-23 earlier in the day on Wednesday. They will face off on Tuesday, November 1 at 7:30 from Cleveland Charter. With the Dons making the Open Division playoffs, they qualify for the state playoffs and will find out their fate for the Southern California Regionals tournament on Sunday, Nov 6 around midday. Check out the brackets as they are released on my personal Sports Telegram twitter (@vsgram_eric22) for all City and Southern Sections volleyball teams.