Third time’s the charm?

Joseph Boo

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Like the headless horseman haunting Ichabod

Crane, Harvard-Westlake High’s girls volleyball team seems to follow

Corona del Mar everywhere.

First, the Wolverines beat the Sea Kings in a two out-of-three match at

the San Marcos Tournament. Then, they beat CdM in the CIF Southern

Section III-AA semifinals.

Tonight, at 7, No. 3 seed CdM (20-10) will travel to North Hollywood and

face No. 2 Harvard-Westlake (24-6) again in the second round of the

Southern Regionals of the state playoffs.

“I think if the girls aren’t fired up, they better leave their uniforms

at home,” CdM Coach Steve Conti said after the team’s victory over

University of San Diego High in the first round. “It’s the first thing

the girls mentioned after the match. They wanted the rematch, and they’ll

get it.”

The key for the Sea Kings is pretty simple, play at their best. That is

easier said than done though, for a talented, but inconsistent team.

“It just depends on our team’s execution,” Conti said.

“Both times, we felt we haven’t played them at our fullest potential.”

Harvard-Westlake didn’t just depend on the benevolence of CdM to win

twice. The Wolverines did their part with good defense. The Wolverines’

height provides a lot of problems for any of their opponents.

“They’re a big team,” Conti said. “They block a lot of balls. The key

will be for our girls to not be intimidated when they get blocked.”

Last time, 6-1 middle blocker Ashley Julian was moved from the right to

the left side, and coupled with another 6-1 middle blocker, Courtney

Schultz, provided problems for CdM.

Even though Harvard-Westlake’s height makes spiking the ball difficult,

CdM’s Dimitra Havriluk still had 25 kills in the semifinals, and Jamie

Brownell’s 18 kills wasn’t too shabby, either.

As long as CdM avoids another incident like game three, it should be all

right. In that game, the Sea Kings lost a 5-0 lead and the momentum, and

Harvard-Westlake cruised the rest of the way to win the match. But a

repeat performance is less likely this time around.

“These girls are very focused,” Conti said. “They’ve been looking forward

to this rematch for a while.”