The Dolphins seemed destined to win their 15th City Section title on May 21. They went undefeated in league play and blew past Monroe (3-0), Bell (3-0) and Carson (3-0) to reach the finals against El Camino Real, a team they had beaten twice during the regular season.
The top-seeded Palisades lost in five tough games, 25-19, 20-25, 24-26, 25-16, 15-12, as ECR won its first City crown. In a May 17 Daily News story reporting on El Camino’s dominant semi-final victory over Taft reported “second-year coach Alyssa Lee said she broke down the film from the five-set victory with her players and studied Taft’s tendencies closely.” Good chance she used the same strategy against Palisades.
Pali head coach Carlos Gray had a talented team (ranked 55th nationally), but it was also inexperienced in big pressure games: three starters were freshmen (Akhil Tangutur, Marcus Partain and Justin Howard) and two were sophomores (Jeff and Scott Stuart).
The team loses senior co-captains Jason Wittbrodt and Vecas Lewin, plus PJ Hurst, Danny Miller and Matthew Mitchel, but Coach Gray can certainly look forward to next season.
Left to right: Matthew Mitchel (white), Jeff Stuart, Riley Byington, Jason Wittbrodt and PJ Hurst are in action at a home game. Photo courtesy Palisades High School Photography
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