Edison girls’ volleyball pulls off backdoor sweep of Wilson, advances to CIF Division 3 semifinals
As his team poured out onto the court, Edison girls’ volleyball coach Trent Jackson stood up, threw his hands in the air, and emphatically slapped high-fives with his coaching staff.
The last of Summer Witherby’s team-leading 21 kills completed a backdoor sweep for the fourth-seeded Chargers, who earned an improbable 21-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-8 win over visiting Long Beach Wilson in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 quarterfinals on Wednesday.
“Thank God,” Jackson, who co-coaches the Chargers with Colleen Burke, exclaimed following the comeback victory.
Edison (22-15), the Wave League champion, had fallen behind early in the first two sets, ultimately dropping both. Jackson went to tough-serving Maya Shihadeh to begin the third set, which immediately paid dividends. She had two service aces during a stretch that saw the Chargers jump out to an 8-2 lead.
Wilson (20-11) faced little resistance from the Chargers in the first two sets, as the powerful hitting of Chloe Pravednikov (25 kills) and Allanah Smith (18 kills) spearheaded the Bruins in getting out in front.
An adjustment in their blocking scheme helped the Chargers get more touches and extend points.
“In the third set, we saw that [Pravednikov] was hitting a lot of hard cross-court [shots],” Chargers setter Megan Fitzmorris said. “We just all collectively decided as a team to move the block in so that we would take away the angle and force her to hit [up the] line, which she didn’t do like at all. It was just a team strategy in our timeouts.”
Fitzmorris distributed 22 assists to go with five total blocks, and Sophie Vienna also had 26 assists for Edison. Outside hitter Adia McCown pounded out 16 kills, opposite Molly McCluskey had 11 kills, 12 digs, two blocks and two aces, and libero Makenna Jackson supplied 16 digs.
Ashley Finch had 11 kills, two blocks and two aces, and Morgan Gillinger also contributed three total blocks, making for an effective duo at middle blocker.
“In the first two sets, we did not block well,” Trent Jackson said. “In the [last] three sets, we blocked a lot better, and that was a difference because then they started getting blocked, and then they changed their swing a little, or we dig a couple more. They hit some balls in the net, which they hadn’t made any errors in the first two sets. … That helped us out.”
Edison travels to take on top-seeded Mission Hills Alemany (17-4) in the semifinals on Saturday.
Witherby, who has committed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for beach volleyball, was elated to see her team push through after trailing by two sets.
“The sidelines really picked up all the energy,” Witherby said. “I think everyone on the court really got pumped up and excited whenever someone got a kill or a block. Our momentum just shifted completely at the end of the third set.”
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