The Regents Take Control Of The Sierra League

CHINO HILLS-  The St. Lucy's Regents took control of the Sierra League today with a road win in straight sets over Chino Hills.  The Regents played strong and confidently, unfazed by the television cameras or jeering Husky fans.  St. Lucy's trounced the Huskies 25-10, 25-21 and 25-13.

Every single St. Lucy's player who stepped on the court today contributed to this victory.  The Regents set the tone in the first game with solid play, using the corners well, mixing in crushing kills, spot on setting, tough serving and steady defense.  Juliet McClure was on, dumping a ball to get the Regents to a 9-3 lead and forcing a Chino Hills timeout.  Arden Davis' perfect pass after the timeout allowed Juliet McClure to set a slide for Marissa Hageman, which she smoked down the line for a 10-4 lead.  Chino Hills caught fire briefly and cut the lead to 3, trailing 8-11, but that was as close as they would get in this set.  The Regents buckled down, showed tremendous patience and pushed their lead to 17-9.  Following a second Husky timeout, the Regents carried on, allowing only one point before closing it out 25-10.

The Huskies looked like they might have figured things out in set 2 when they got out to a quick 7-3 lead.  The Regents talked it over and came out of a timeout with a battle plan:  play harder.  Loryn Carter crushed a couple down the line and Eryn Young served up two consecutive aces, Arden Davis, Juliet McClure and Marissa Hageman combined for a pass, set, kill slide combo, and Vanessa Caustrita put a kill down cross court to level the score at 8.   The rest of the set was peppered with long rallies, a diving one-armed dig by Roni LaPierre and impressive offense by Dianna Rohrer and Lauren Carter.  Lucy's was able to build and maintain a comfortable lead down the stretch and took set two 25-21.

The Huskies were not able to rebound after losing set two.  Lucy's enjoyed a five point lead from early on in the set and never let Chino Hills get near.  Juliet McClure's impressive serving continued as did Dianna Rohrer's tough middle play.  Everything was going the Regents way.  Alina Mota came in off the bench at 24-13 to serve, and aptly served an ace to put an end to the set and match.  And just like that, Lucy's beat the Huskies in straight sets.

The stat leaders for the night were Vanessa Caustrita with 10 kills, Roni LaPierre with 9 kills, Loryn Carter with 8 kills, Arden Davis with 14 digs, Juliet McClure with 28 assists, 10 digs and 4 aces, and Dianna Rohrer with 2 blocks.  The Regents keep improving from game to game.  Heading toward the second half of the league in sole possession of first place, their prospects for a Sierra League 5-peat are looking good.  There is no reason to think that they will not take care of business and continue to play high level volleyball.  If you don't believe me, take a look for your self.  Today's match will be rebroadcast on Time Warner Cable, Channel 101, on Friday at 9:30 pm, Sunday at 4:00 pm and Monday at 7:00 pm and midnight.