GOHS claims 3-0 playoff victory over Woodlawn

• By FRED ALDRICH
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Nov 6, 2009

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Glen Oaks High School grew stronger as its volleyball match progressed against Woodlawn, and the Panthers advanced to the second round of the LHSAA Division II-4A playoffs with a 3-0 home win Thursday.

Glen Oaks took a 3-2 lead in the first set and never trailed again in the match, winning by scores of 25-19, 25-16 and 25-16.

Unsteady nerves were obvious all around in the first set as neither team sustained a consistent offense.

There were plenty of exciting points and hustle on both sides, but the teams could muster only six total kills between them.

“I think everyone was nervous at the beginning, girls and coaches,” Glen Oaks coach Trey Earle said. “I know I’ve had butterflies all day.”

Earle is in his first year as head coach at Glen Oaks after serving as an assistant to longtime Panthers coach Nelson Malpica who now heads the program at Woodlawn.

Considering most of the Glen Oaks girls were playing against their former coach and the Woodlawn team was new to playoff action, nervousness was understandable early.

“Glen Oaks has a very athletic team, and for some reason we just didn’t have it tonight,” Malpica said. “Not to make excuses, but I think the lower ceiling here bothered us, and we were playing without one of our regular starters, Chelsea Christopher, who tore an Achilles tendon at McKinley last week.”

Christopher, who was wearing a boot to support the injury, was relegated to calling lines rather than mixing it up in the game action.

Woodlawn could have used her against the hitting of middle blocker Wyneika Anderson and outside hitter Jamie Turner. The two seniors gradually took over the match at the net until, at one point in the third set, they combined for six straight points on kills or blocks as Glen Oaks put the match out of reach.

“We’ve had two great days of practice, and I could just sense the girls wanted something tonight. They had fire in their eyes,” Earle said.

Anderson had three kills and two blocks to pace her team’s 25-19 win in the first set that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.

Woodlawn managed to close the gap to 11-9 before Glen Oaks pulled away, but the Panthers gave up 12 points on hitting errors, violations and service faults.