Lady Broncos alone atop Southwestern League girls’ volleyball standings
- Chaparral (16-1, 1-1): 18-22-22=0
- Vista Murrieta (2-3, 2-0): 25-25-25=3
MURRIETA – Journey has been the word emphasized this year within the Vista Murrieta girls’ volleyball program. It’s one that the Lady Broncos hope will result in an appearance on CIF-SS championship weekend, which is about a month and a half away.
The first step on that journey is successfully defending their back-to-back Southwestern League championships. Wednesday night (Sept. 14), in a much-anticipated matchup against previously undefeated Chaparral, Vista Murrieta took care of business and stayed atop the league standings heading into week two play.
Broncos coach Ed Taitano remarked, “We’re trying all sorts of things right now against high level competition and it is still very early in our journey as a team together. It’s not about wins and losses but improving each time out so that we’re playing our best in October.”
In set one, after a Madison Pulsipher attack error opened up the match, Vista Murrieta went on an 11-3 run to go up 11-4. Claire Little had two kills in the early push that was aided by three consecutive attack errors from Chaparral, who closed the gap to 16-15 on a Bella Rittenberg kill and an Avery Page ace.
However, the Lady Broncos closed out the set on a 9-3 run to win 25-18. Katrina Catalan, Skylar Darr, and Miliani Villareal each had aces in that run.
An ace from Rittenberg closed Vista Murrieta’s lead to one point, at 7-6, in set two. Then Lauren Ly’s ace, and a Pulsipher kill, along with two Puma hitting errors, pushed the gap to five at 11-6. Down 21-15, Chaparral got to within striking distance at 23-21 after a kill from Makai Ford…but a return kill from Little ended it and gave the Lady Broncos a 2-0 lead (winning 25-22).
Little had a trio of kills while Pulsipher added another on a long rally as Vista Murrieta raced to an early 10-6 lead in set three. There were ties and leads exchanged from points 16 through 20 when the Lady Broncos took their final lead on a Chaparral service error. The match ended on a net violation that was a bit controversial and a reception error which gave Vista Murrieta the sweep with another 25-22 win.
By trade Little is an outside hitter, but in 2022 she is being asked to handle setting duties too.
“It started out as a bit of a joke, then got serious during summer camp and became reality against Marymount in our season opener,” she said. “It is still a work in progress. We have really absorbed the idea of togetherness and that is what has helped us to manage these changes so far this year.”
The Lady Broncos will participate in this weekend’s Durango Fall Classic in Las Vegas before resuming Southwestern League play Monday, Sept. 19, against Temecula Valley.
Derryl Trujillo can be reached via email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.
