RUHS Girls Volleyball Has Room to Improve

The Redondo girls volleyball team has been an inconsistent bunch in its early play, but head coach Tommy Chaffins isn't worried. It's much too early for that. Still, Chaffins would sleep better if his squad performed better and captured some close matches.

Mater Dei earned a five-set nonleague victory at Redondo Union High School, where the Sea Hawks committed far too many miscues and fell 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 20-25, 9-15.

"We had great balance tonight. Unfortunately, in the fifth game we just made a lot of errors," Chaffins said. "There were just too many to overcome."

Chaffins, though, was pleased with the effort, but if Redondo expects to soar again with the elite, like it did last season, the Sea Hawks need to improve.

"We're getting better. We've lost back-to back matches in 5 games, which is disappointing, but I feel like we're playing much better than a week ago," he said. "They're great kids to work with and they all work hard, but we, as coaches and players, need to make adjustments faster than we've been making them. We'll get there."

Against Mater Dei (8-5), sophomore outside hitter Brianna Lanktree and junior outside hitter Skylar Dykstra led Redondo (6-5) with 13 kills apiece, while Devon Bogart added seven. Tiffany Morales finished with a team-high 14 digs. Dykstra recorded 10 digs and Lanktree had seven. Hannah Mosebar finished with six kills and five blocks. Sade Mendez contributed five kills and two blocks.

Still, the loss to Mater Dei extended a rough stretch for the Sea Hawks in tournament play and nonleague matches. They suffered a five-set loss to Orange Lutheran, a team they eliminated in the playoffs last season, and endured setbacks to teams from Fresno, Hawaii and Kentucky in the competitive Durango Fall Classic in Las Vegas.

Nevertheless, Redondo has defeated Bishop Montgomery, Torrey Pines, Long Beach Wilson and , among others.

Chaffins expects his team to continue improving.

"I feel we'll really close, but to be a top-notch team you have to be a little more consistent than we've been," Chaffins said. "And we don't play cream puffs. We want to play the best. It can only make us better."

Improved play around the net is what the Sea Hawks need now.

"Our blocking has to be a little more disciplined and we need to put the ball in better spots when we're passing it," Chaffins said. "It isn't for a lack of effort, but we need to look at improving our techniques."

Redondo will get another chance on Saturday, when it meets South Torrance in a match at 5 p.m. in the Kim Blankinship Torrance Challenge at Torrance High.