Owls trap 'Cat spikers, 3-1
By Misty Volaski

It's tough losing your last game of the season, especially for the six seniors on Villanova's girls' varsity volleyball squad - Alyssa Strom, Lauren Van Keulen, Stephanie De Santis, Katie Parziale, Stella Chio and Erica Helsan. For them, their last-ever regular season game for Villanova (against Laguna Blanca) turned sour; the Owls took it to them, allowing only one win out of four games. Laguna topped the first two games, 13-25, 19-25, and Villanova needed to win the next game in order to stay alive.

They took the third game, 25-21, but the Owls finished the job, 16-25, to seal the win for Laguna Blanca.

Top players for the Wildcats included Van Keulen, who assisted 32 times and also had 13 digs, five kills and four aces. Parziale was all over the court, with 17 kills, five blocks and 22 digs. De Santis also pulled her weight, slamming in 11 kills and digging for the ball 14 times. Connelly Jenks had 15 digs and four kills, while Nicki Ellingson rounded out the top 'Nova players with 13 digs and two aces.

The girls' previous two games, however, ended in Villanova's favor. Against Dunn, the girls won 3-1, with game scores of 25-18, 10-25, 26-24, 25-21. Van Keulen was instrumental in the game, serving up 34 assists and nine kills, while Parziale added another 25 kills to go with her 15 digs. De Santis dug for 18 saves, and killed eight balls into Owl territory. Jenks came in with 12 digs.

The Lady Wildcats were again out in full force against Cornerstone Christian, besting the Eagles, 25-14, 25-15, 25-15. Van Keulen and Parziale had their usual good nights, with Van Keulen earning seven kills, making assists on 14 points and slamming in five aces of her own.
Villanova is now 6-4 in league and 7-8 overall. The girls will most likely still be going into post-season play. Check out

CIF-SS.org in the coming weeks for exact dates and times of play-off games.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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