La Cañada goes on to round two

It was clear from the onset of Tuesday night’s CIF Southern Section Division II-A first round match that the La Cañada girls’ volleyball team was pumped, fierce and ready to win.

Maybe it was the solid crowd of cheering fans, both students and parents.

Maybe it was the girls’ own attitudes, displayed in their traditional pre-game cheer with the whole team — 17 girls in a circle, jumping and yelling, ponytails swinging — while the seven-player Rialto squad looked on.

Regardless, the Spartans brought all they had to the court and came out with a 25-11, 25-12, 25-9 sweep of the visiting Rialto Lady Knights to send them into second round play this evening.

“We were excited, we were really pumped for this game,” said senior team co-captain Kim McCutchan. “I’m glad we were able to come out with a solid victory to start CIF.

“We know that as we move along, the competition is only going to get better.”

The girls didn’t seem to have any problem handling whatever the Knights sent over the net, setting up several shoot-set plays and quick hits at the net for a team-total 27 kills.

The Spartans scored double the Knights’ points in game one by 12-6 and never looked back as sophomore Courtney McCutchan pounded two kills to the floor while senior Monica Jung scored on two aces during her seven-point service run.

Several errors hindered Rialto from catching up, and senior Becky Hummel put the game away for La Cañada while the crowd cheered on.

The Spartans started game two with a service ace from Hummel and did not allow the Knights to come closer than two points, 5-3, to match the La Cañada effort.

Junior Cami Martin and sophomore setter Halyey Woodford controlled the net with two blocks, and Martin came through with two kills for the game.

Rialto made a come-back effort with Knight Natalie Guevara’s five-point service run to bring Rialto to within seven points to the lead, 11-18, but Spartan Kim McCutchan put an end to it with a kill and ace to propel the Spartans to victory.

La Cañada finished off the set with more of the same, with six kills from Courtney McCutchan and another four from Martin in game three.

Junior Madison Anderson and sophomore Julia Burrows helped out with a team block at the net, while Martin scored the match point with her signature slide spike.

“We felt confident, if maybe a bit rusty, mentally,” said Spartan Head Coach Brock Turner, explaining that his team had not played a game in a week. “It’s all between the ears now.”

With the win, La Cañada advances to today’s round two, where they travel to Pioneer League third-place finisher Torrance, who defeated Valley View in three Tuesday night.

The Spartans beat the Tartars in three in their very first game this season, in the annual Gahr tournament, but as Turner explained, things change.

“They are different now, we are different now. We need to carry through mentally,” he said. “Execution with confidence makes victory.”

Tonight’s playoff game in Torrance begins at 7 p.m.