After winning its seventh straight Western League title, the Palisades High School girls volleyball team is seeded No. 1 in the City Section Open Division playoffs.
The eight-team playoffs start Nov. 2, with the Dolphins hosting 8th-seeded San Pedro at 7 p.m. The second round is Nov. 7, the semifinals are Nov. 9 and the finals are Nov. 11.
“We are honored to be the top seed but it by no means guarantees us a championship,” said Pali head coach Carlos Gray. “I am solely focused on the city title at the moment. With quality teams such as Taft, Granada and Carson in the draw there are no sure things.”
Photo: Lesly Hall Photography
Carson is seeded fourth, Taft is third and Granada Hills second. Early in the season, the Dolphins beat beat Taft 2-1 and Carson 3-0. But they well remember last November, when they lost to Granada Hills in the city finals.
Carlos added, “This is one of our most balanced teams, offensively speaking, in a few years. There are a lot of weapons on this team so opponents cannot key on just one thing.
“As long as we handle our passing we will be in every match,” he said. “I like our chances if we play to our capabilities.”
With nine seniors on the team this year, PaliHi extended its league winning streak to 87 straight since 2010, rolling past Westchester, Fairfax, University, Hamilton, Venice and LACES.
To prepare for tougher competition in the playoffs, the Dolphins entered the Redondo Power Classic from Oct. 20-21, which featured some of the top schools in Southern California.
There were three brackets, and pool play on Friday determined where the teams would compete on Saturday.
Palisades lost to Palos Verdes (25-17 and 25-20), Village Christian (25-22 and 25-21) and Rio Mesa (10-25, 25-22 and 15-12), placing them in the Silver bracket. They then beat Burroughs (25-19 and 25-15) and Thousand Oaks (25-19) to capture the Silver championship.
“We were placed in a very tough pool on day one,” Coach Gray said. “I felt the girls competed hard but just couldn’t get over the hump. We made a nice turnaround, going 3-0 on day two [beating two teams], so I think we proved we can play at a high level when needed.”
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