On Tuesday night, the Wolves showed they have the balance needed to win with their top player limited.
Seven girls recorded multiple kills, three finished with double-digit digs, and King defeated Hemet in four sets — 25-14, 25-15, 18-25, 25-15 — in a battle of defending CIF-Southern Section champions.
“We have to be able to develop that balance,” Wolves coach Sandra Lough said. “Last year, we relied a lot on our outsides and so we really want to be more of a balanced team. We want to be able to catch our opponent off guard, not necessarily be so predictable.”
Lauren Page paced the Wolves offense with 14 kills and recorded 2 ½ blocks, Haley Montgomery had a match-high 18 digs to go with six kills, and Melanie Hughes dished out 33 assists.
King (8-5), the defending Division 2AA champion, also got notable contributions from Jordyn Griggs (seven kills), Rayo Soyemi (five kills), Regan Lough (16 digs) and Danica Lim (10 digs). Greeley chipped in with four kills and three aces in limited action.
“I feel like last year in our state playoff game we lost because we were setting outside, outside, outside,” Page said. But now we’re setting back, middle, outside and mixing it up.”
Hemet (5-1), the defending 4AA champion, was plagued by errors throughout. The Bulldogs had eight service errors and 10 other attack errors, and, as a result, played from behind most of the night.
“We had a lot of girls in that are new to varsity this year and haven’t been playing much, so it’s a big game to them,” Hemet coach Janie Washburn said. “It was a lot of pressure and they apparently couldn’t handle it.”
King never trailed in the first two sets, taking an early lead and coasting to victory despite Greeley being on the bench.
“We’re still kinda resting Kalei right now,” Lough said. “So it was nice that we were able to come off pretty strong in the beginning so I didn’t overuse her in any way.”
King never trailed in the first two sets, led by Page’s offense and strong defense in the middle. Montgomery served five straight points with two aces early in the first set and Lough did the same in the second set to help the Wolves win each comfortably.
Hemet won the third set against the King backups, but once the starters re-entered in the fourth set it was all King. Page had a stretch of four consecutive kills and a momentum-swinging block to turn a close set into a Wolves rout and lead them to victory.
“Everyone is stepping up really well,” Montgomery said. “We all came in knowing they won CIF last year, so it’s good knowing we beat a team as good as us.”
