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Glendale Adventist volleyball takes care of Pacifica Christian

Glendale Adventist Academy’s Paige Singleton celebrates a point with teammates against Pacifica Christian.
(Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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GLENDALE — A couple of weeks remain in the regular season for the Glendale Adventist Academy girls’ volleyball team, giving it time to clean up some facets of its game.

The Cougars will likely appear in the CIF Southern Section Division IX playoffs, having added depth throughout the lineup following a third-place finish in the Liberty League and missing the playoffs last season.

“We know we have to get our act together and that can start with being a little more crisp with our overall play,” said Glendale Adventist coach Gared Luquet, whose team posted a 25-13, 25-21, 25-21 league home win against Santa Monica Pacifica Christian on Monday. “We know we’ll need to be a lot more sharp going into the playoffs.

“I thought we played pretty well today. We did a good job at being able to spread out our offense and it’s good when you don’t have to be able to rely on one person so much.”

Glendale Adventist (12-4, 4-3 in league) got 12 kills from Elyse Knipschild and 11 from Paige Singleton to complete the two-match season sweep of Pacific Christian (0-5 in league). The Cougars, ranked fourth in the division behind Rancho Christian, Mammoth and Santa Rosa Academy, rallied for a 24-26, 16-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-6 win in the first contest Sept. 27.

Glendale Adventist maintained control in the first two sets before receiving a tougher test in the third Monday.

“We had to come out working well and realize where we need to be,” said Knipschild, who contributed three aces. “We made a couple of mistakes, but we were able to pick each other up when we needed to.

“We still need to work on some things. We know we can still play a lot better.”

Knipschild responded well early in the first set. She had a kill to give the Cougars a 7-1 lead. Later in the set, she added an ace to make it 11-4. A kill by Knipschild late in the first set made it 20-11.

Singleton, a former All-Area selection, posted a kill to give Glendale Adventist a 7-2 lead in the second set. Singleton had a kill later to make it 17-10. She closed out the set with a kill down the right side. Melody Coronel and Kristine Nicholas added two aces apiece for Glendale Adventist in the second set.

Pacifica Christian looked sharper in the third set, racing out to a 12-6 lead on a kill by Thalia Rakosky (team-high nine kills). A kill by Katie Gilbert of the Seawolves made it 19-17 before the Cougars went on a 4-0 run to take a 22-19 lead.

After Pacifica Christian pulled to within 22-21, Glendale Adventist finished on a 3-0 run. The Cougars’ run was capped by a block from Coronel.

charles.rich@latimes.com

Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich

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