DIVISION II VOLLEYBALL : Los Alamitos Overcomes Early Struggles to Claim Title

NORWALK —  Los Alamitos dropped the second game, came back in the third, and then took it from there Saturday, beating Fountain Valley, 15-6, 4-15, 15-13, 15-12, to win its first Southern Section Division II volleyball championship at Cerritos College.

The Griffins (18-1) have not lost since their first match, when they were swept by Long Beach Poly. For Coach Patti Laird, the title has been a long time in coming.

“This is a dream Gary (Laird, her husband) and I have been working on since the kids were in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. We just built the program piece by piece, player by player.” Six team members played for the Lairds while in middle school.

Los Alamitos took the first game decisively, with runs of five and seven points, holding the Barons’ outside hitting threat, Gina Ybarra, to two kills. But the Griffins nearly folded in the second, scoring only four points.

Fountain Valley (18-3) took a 12-7 lead in Game 3, but then Stacy Laitsch went to work. From a three-point deficit, Laitsch accounted for the next five points to give Los Alamitos the game and renew its confidence. Laitsch got 10 of her 18 kills in the third game, and teammate Maria Bowden, who also had 18 kills, added eight in the game.

“I was worried; I was stressed,” Laitsch said of the third game. “But I put that aside, and told Katie (Pearce, the setter) ‘Set me, I’m ready to hit.’

“The turning point was when we realized (victory) was right in front of us. All we had to do was take that step.”

Fountain Valley took a 12-8 lead in Game 4, but Bowden blocked a serve return, Amanda Johnson killed the ball, and behind Pearce’s serving, the Griffins scored five consecutive points. Laitsch solo-blocked Kristin Moro for the match.

Moro and Ybarra led the Barons with 18 and 17 kills. But defense proved to be critical: Los Alamitos had six solo blocks and 10 assists for 11 team blocks. Fountain Valley had eight.