El Camino Real girls volleyball wins share of West Valley League title

WOODLAND HILLS — The El Camino Real girls volleyball team came out on top Wednesday in a slugfest for the West Valley League crown.

The Royals beat Taft in five sets, 25-22, 23-21, 25-21, 20-25, 15-13, to secure a co-league championship and end Taft’s bid for a three-peat.

It is the first league championship for El Camino Real (22-13, 7-3) in 10 years.

El Camino Real will share the league championship with Cleveland, which split its two league matches against the Royals.

The Royals’ offense was lethal throughout the match Wednesday. The attack was spearheaded by senior outside hitter Arianna Ellis.

Ellis got off to a hot start with six kills in the first set. The senior added seven kills in the second set before hammering in eight in the third. She finished with a match-high 28 kills along with four blocks.

“I was very excited,” Ellis said. “There was a lot to look up to for this game, senior night especially. I just tried to keep it steady throughout the whole game with my mindset and my playing. It was hard at times, but I just had to remember what I’m playing for: all my seniors, all my friends, and just bring it all together.”

The 5-foot-10 Ellis cooked throughout the night and finished strong. She had a block to set up match point and then had a kill off the right side to end it.

“Arianna Ellis is really something to be messed with,” said El Camino Real coach John Galvan. “I think she has a bright, bright future ahead of her. This is her first year playing outside, but she’s fully in that role extremely well. She’s proven that they need more people in the front row to block her right … But when she’s rolling, she’s rolling. And she brings a lot of life and energy to the team, and she’s a great leader as well.”

Outside hitter Aja Najar was also key to the win. She matched Ellis with three kills in the fifth game.

Najar totaled 19 kills and an ace in the win.

Taft (33-13, 6-4) fought hard and had an exceptional push from its own Swiss Army knife in senior Laila Braimah. The 5-9 opposite moved all over the net on both offense and defense to give El Camino Real different looks. Braimah ended the night with 24 kills.

She made her biggest splash in the third set on defense, where she registered four of her match-high six blocks.

“We made a ton of adjustments in this game, and they have a hell of a team,” Galvan said. “They’re swinging very aggressively, they’re mixing up. They’re making us work for it. We definitely had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be easy.”

The Toreadors also received a huge boost in the third game from sophomore Nikita Luniv, who registered three straight aces to help fuel an 8-0 run.

El Camino Real started strong in every set, and went up by at least five points in the first three games. However, Taft’s scrappiness and quick adjustments were able to fuel the Toreadors back in the set every time.

“We’re in the West Valley League, every team can compete, and it really just comes down to the errors that we made,” Galvan said. “Ultimately, we were able to clean that up and secure the win.”

Ellis helped win a share of the league title in her first year at the outside position.

“I kind of have dabbled at all of the different hitter positions, but I was mainly an opposite for club,” Ellis said. “And I really liked opposite. I felt like it was really my strong suit. But then coming back to high school, I really wanted to play outside.”

Galvan reflected on El Camino Real winning a league championship in his first year as head coach.

“This group is amazing,” Galvan said. “I didn’t know what to expect coming in to coach this group the first year. I know they’ve been through different coaches, but ultimately they all come from diverse coaching backgrounds and tremendous skill. But they bought in and they opened up to me, and they received me well. I’m lucky to have a great assistant coaches as well.”

Toreadors libero Aralyn Adorable-Flores led her team with 28 digs. Setter Alexandra Baraja added 38 assists and 12 digs.

Taft entered the contest Wednesday having won 11 of its last 12 matches, including a five-set, reverse sweep of El Camino Real.

For Galvan, it meant a lot to see his team beat Taft after going through that earlier loss.

“Of course, there’s a ton of momentum going into the postseason,” Galvan said. “Nothing’s better than winning on your senior night against a team that came back on you and reverse swept you early on in the season. That taught us a lot, and the team does have the confidence. We have beaten every team that we will see in the playoffs and we know what it’ll take to beat the team. It’s just going to come down to can we go out there and execute?”

The Royals and Toreadors will likely be in the Open Division of the City playoffs, and they could battle one more time this season.

“I think we’re feeling great,” Ellis said. “I think we’re feeling confident. We’re feeling ready for the semifinals, finals, whatever comes towards us. I think we’re ready, and I know we have the skill set to do it. It’s just really up to us to push through.”