Sierra Canyon girls volleyball takes patient approach to defending CIF-SS Division 1 title

Sierra Canyon girls volleyball has all the pieces it needs, now it’s just time to patiently wait for the chemistry to build.

After months of playing club volleyball with their respective teams, players are reconvening and trying to form a successful high school team.

“All the sudden you’re thrown into this other setting and it’s jarring for all of us,” Sierra Canyon coach Stefanie Wigfall said. “As challenging as it can be, it’s also the best part of the season if everybody is on board because it’s building something from scratch.”

The Trailblazers are out to an 8-3 start with losses to Huntington Beach, Mira Costa and Cornerstone Christian (San Antonio) — all of which came in tournaments. JSerra most recently tested Sierra Canyon on Aug. 17, pushing the match to five sets, but the Trailblazers won the final set 15-12 to come out on top.

Freshman Hanna McGinest led Sierra Canyon in kills in that match and added 12 digs, two blocks and an ace. She and her sister, Halie, transferred from Long Beach Poly and have had a near-instant impact.

“They are strong, they jump, they are great athletes,” Wigfall said of the two sisters. “They’ve played volleyball since they were very young and just add so much depth and competitiveness and athleticism to our team.”

Opposite hitter Taylor Treahy is a transfer from Saugus, but the Trailblazers also return multiple players from last season’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship team. Outside hitter Danica Rach is back after going through shoulder surgery in the offseason and is a senior captain, while Lauren Lynch returns at libero and Sade Ilawole is at setter.

Lynch had 27 digs against JSerra and Ilawole had 63 assists, five kills and three aces.

“It’s her experience and her leadership that brings the most value and her willingness to do whatever the team needs,” Wigfall said. “And then obviously her defense is majorly important to us because she helps keep us in a lot of rallies. She plays high-level defense, close to libero-style defense.”

The team took third place at the Anne Kang Invitational, which brought together 16 of the best teams from Hawaii, California and Texas. The Trailblazers upset host school ‘Iolani before falling to tournament champion Mira Costa in the semifinals.

Wigfall said the tournament and the travel associated with it helped further the team’s chemistry, as will Sierra Canyon’s final two tournaments of the season: the Durango Fall Classic and the Nike Tournament of Champions.

It’s all building to the Trailblazers’ ultimate goal this season of repeating as the Division 1 champions.

“We want to see if we can put ourselves right back at the top this season and so we’re going to go for it,” Wigfall said. “We know that’s going to be even harder than winning the first time so we decided to give ourselves that big of a challenge and we’re going to go for it.”

Taft starts strong

Taft is out to a 7-0 start this season and won the City Champions Showcase on Saturday, Aug. 19, by beating GALA in two sets, 25-18, 25-18.

Coach Arman Mercado partly credits the early success to summer leagues the Toreadors played in, which allowed them to dial in on specific skills.

“It’s ‘hey, tonight we’re working on line shots and sharp angle,’ ” Mercado said. “So whether we win or lose, they understand that that’s what we’re trying to do that night and they buy into it. Instead of deviating like oh, we’re losing by five points, it’s let’s see if we can try to hit it in the middle of the court.”

Claire Mussell is the only returning starter from last season’s team, which reached the CIF LA City Section championship last season. The middle had 15 kills in two sets against GALA in the final of the City Champions Showcase.

“Claire is not physically dominating, but she does know where every hole in the defense is,” Mercado said.

Mercado said Colette Ejang and Claudia Aber, twins despite their different last names, are also valuable at middle blocker. Setter Francine Baltazar-Shine has assumed a starting position after being a backup last season.

Taft begins West Valley League play on Sept. 11.