The Culver City girls’ volleyball team lost a heart-breaking match to a tenacious Elsinore team, 3-2 last Saturday night inside the Del Goodyear Gym on the Centaurs’ campus. The loss left the players and fans buzzing with excitement well after the match was over.
The Centaurs ended their season with 26-7 record which included two CIF Division 3AA playoff wins against Brethren Christian of Huntington Beach and Poly of Riverside. Culver City lost its five set match to Elsinore 25-13, 25-21, 18-25, 23-25 and 11-15 in the final set.
This was the second straight year the Centaurs recorded 25 wins or more and it also marked the second year in a row that Culver City was knocked out of the playoffs a few games before the CIF finals.
Championships don’t always define a season and in Culver City’s case, its 26 wins represent the great season they had. The team won back-toback Ocean League Championships and their senior class was as good as advertised. After the loss to Elsinore Centaur head coach Joe Manzo had no regrets.
“We played hard but they out played us those last three games. We stuck with them but in the end the ball did not drop in our favor,” Manzo said. “Both teams fought but they just happen to play better defense tonight. We are human. We are going to make mistakes.”
Senior captains Mina Grant and Taylor Selfridge did a great job all season and especially against Elsinore according to Manzo. “That was the best game Mina and Taylor played in the last three years.”
Grant said that Culver City knew what Elsinore was going to do, but they still could not stop their momentum.
“I also think we kind of got a little lazy,” Manzo continued. “We thought we were going to win but we did not make the adjustments.”
Another senior star, Armani Moultrie thinks the Centaurs needed more energy in those final three games.
“We played hard,” Moultrie said. “We had a drop off at the end but I am very proud of our team.”
Freshman Lena Johnson and sophomore Krista Hernandez had a slightly different opinion of the game.
“We died down at the end,” said Hernandez. “We got tired after winning the first two games. We need to prove that we can do better. We should have put them away but they were very consistent those last three games.”
“I think as a team we bonded so much this year that we got comfortable, but we played our hearts out,” Johnson said about the loss to Elsinore.
Manzo is already looking forward to next year.
“We are going for three league championships in a row,” Manzo said. “We have a lot of good players returning and the junior varsity and freshman teams have a lot of outstanding players. The middle school program was very good this year and all of the girls play club volleyball.”
The 2014 lady Centaurs are Taylor Burks, Mina Grant, Kristra Hernandez, Lena Johnson, Delany Melendez, Claire Miller, Armani Moultrie, Katrina McCoy, Adili Rikondja, Veronica Scupine, Taylor Selfridge, Joanna Smith, McKenna Stevens and Jessica Stewart