PACIFICA, CA – Tuesday night’s volleyball match at Alma Heights Christian wasn’t Archbishop Mitty vs. Valley Christian in stature, but it was one of the first girls sporting events this season played on the Coastside and it was important to the teams involved.
After about 75 minutes of action, host Alma Heights Christian won the non-league opener for both teams, defeating Pescadero 25-14, 25-12, 25-13.
“It was a good match,” Alma Heights Christian coach Tito Correa said. “We usually play Pescadero about every other year. It’s nice when they’re available to play. We have about six new players and seven returning, so it was a good chance for us to let the new players work with the returning ones.”
One of the Eagles’ newcomers is Sarah Zambrano who transferred from Mercy-San Francisco to the Pacifica school after her freshman year. She did not even play volleyball last season at Mercy, choosing to play club basketball instead.
Zambrano had seven assists and one ace for the Eagles.
“We’re getting our execution down,” Zambrano said. “We’re working on our bumping and setting and I think we hit the ball well today, but there’s room for improvement.”
Despite not playing last season, Zambrano has plenty of volleyball experience, having competed at Epiphany School in San Francisco from third to eighth grade.
Fans generally don’t pack gyms for non-league games between tiny private schools (Alma Heights' enrollment is 150 and Pescadero about 100); there were only about 20-25 onlookers for Tuesday’s game. That didn’t bother Alma Heights’ Michelle Cheuk.
“That’s fine with me,” she said. “I still had fun. I don’t like crowds.”
Kylie Gutierrez led Alma Heights with three kills and two aces; Cheuk had two kills and five aces; Kaitlyn Gutierrez Cosino chipped in with two kills and Stephanie Hu had two kills and eight aces.
Pescadero is a work in progress. One of its top players from last season, Karly Kanehailua, graduated early. Also not suiting up for the Vikings was junior Taia Mendenhall, a promising player who transferred to Santa Cruz High.
Itzell Negrete with six kills and setter Gabby Cook played well for Pescadero. Negrete had some knee problems last season, but seemed to be in good shape Tuesday.
“I feel rejuvenated,” she said. “I just started playing again. We have a lot of new members this season, so I’m getting familiar with them.”
Cook normally plays outside, but filled in for Pescadero’s would-be setter who is trying to get eligible.
“I’m excited,” Cook said about the new season. “I think I’ve improved a lot in my two years. I was pretty focused today and ready to pass the ball.”
Though Pescadero lost each set, Viking coach Wayne Johnson was not crestfallen.
“I thought we looked good,” he said. “We just need to work on our serve-receive.”
