Wednesday’s high school beach volleyball match between Eastlake and Westview came down to the third and final set, featuring both school’s top pairs.
The Titans’ Elizabeth Heath and Leila Reynante and the Wolverines’ Angeline Nguyen and Lucy Tellers were all square at 10. Both sides needed five points to not only win their match but win 3-2 across all five matches.
Tellers and Nguyen would go on to take the next five points, with Tellers securing the home match victory with a kill.
“It felt really important to lock in and not think about anything else,” Tellers said. “Take it one point at a time. Don’t think of it as like, ‘I have to get these five points. Get this one point, and then once we get that one, get the next one, and then build up from there.’”
Westview’s top pair took the first set 21-9 before being challenged by Heath and Reynante in the second set, losing 21-18.
“I feel like we had to adjust, because they started playing stronger,” said Tellers, the Wolverines freshman. “So we had to adjust to their game getting better, and then we also had to adjust to our own mistakes and learn from them, going into the third set.”
The first two matchups Thursday featured the No. 4 and No. 5 pairs from both schools.
Westview’s Isla Reyes-Castelloe and Reese Monk defeated Eastlake’s Melissa Waganaka and Brooke Hidalgo, 21-14, 21-19. Reyes-Cstelloe and Monk trailed 18-17 before winning four of the final five points in the second set to win the match.
The battle of the No. 5 pairs saw Eastlake’s Izzy Trotto and Daniella Garcia defeat Westview’s Peyton Erickson and Haidyn Wiener in straight sets, 21-10, 21-14.
“I talked to both of them after where they need to be more decisive, what small adjustments we can make so we can go in without thinking, and just play our game, control our outside,” Wolverines coach Mia Fox said to Erickson and Wiener.
Then, the team’s No. 2 and No. 3 battled it out.
In the No. 3 pairing, the Wolverines’ Lilly Sweidel and Ella Bergsmedh won two tight sets, 21-18, 21-17 against the Titans’ Kayse Papa and Noelle Barcas. Both sides were tied at 18 before Sweidel and Bergsmedh took the next three points to take a 1-0 lead. In the second set, the Westview duo led by as many as five, including 20-15 before securing the match.
Eastlake’s Nichole Corona and Kenidee Wax took down Westview’s Gabrielle Ngo and Peyton Jensen in straight sets, 21-18 and 21-13.
“Eastlake, their teams are versatile,” Fox said. “They’re able to put some pace on the ball and do shots where, then a few times we got caught up in maybe not making the right defensive choices or being decisive about it.”
