Crucial Week for Venice High Sports Squads

As April draws to a close, sports at are entering the latter stages of their seasons. Some teams, like baseball and boys tennis, are trying to maintain their high level of play, while the volleyball and swimming squads are hoping to get back on track. Let’s take a closer look. 

Baseball

The Gondoliers are flying high after winning five straight games in the Dennis Gilbert Easter Tournament and they will carry that momentum into this week's three crucial Western League games. 

The week starts with a home-and-home series against Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies. The first game will be at Venice at 3 p.m. on Monday, the second being Wednesday at LACES, also at 3 p.m.. The Gondoliers then travel to Hamilton for a 3 p.m. game Friday. 

Venice (13-5 overall, 5-3 in league) and Westchester (11-11, 5-3) are tied for third in the Western League, but the Gondoliers need to win one more league game than Westchester because the Comets have won both head-to-head meetings.

Softball

Venice has had 10 days to rest up and prepare for its huge rematch with Palisades, a team that crushed the Gondoliers 14-3 on April 8. The game is Monday at 3 p.m. at Palisades. After that, the girls will play in the Spring Fling Tournament starting Saturday against Gardena and Torres.

“I’m really excited for the rematch with Palisades," Venice Coach said. "It will be a great indicator of how far we’ve come since our last game, where I thought we beat ourselves." 

Volleyball

The boys are back in town after playing in a spring break tournament in Las Vegas. The Gondoliers have fallen to 4-5 in the Western League and have two more league contests this week.

First up is a home match versus LACES on Monday, with the varsity starting after the JV. On Wednesday, the Gondoliers have a rematch with perennial City Section power Palisades, which appears headed for a perfect league record. That match is at Palisades, the JV starting at 2:30 p.m. and the varsity immediately after.

“We have to win two of three to make the playoffs," Venice Coach said. "It starts with LACES this week. That’s a must win game for us."

Tennis 

The boys team had all of spring break to rest up after beating Westchester 4-3 and University 5-2 the week before. The team wraps up Western League play with road matches Monday at LACES and Wednesday at Hamilton,  both at 2:30 p.m.

Swimming

Just like the tennis team, the swimming and diving team had the week off for spring break and used the time to recover from its first league loss to Palisades. This week, the Gondoliers jump right back into the pool Monday with a dual meet at LACES.

Meanwhile, over at ...

Both the baseball and softball teams have another week off. The baseball team team won’t be back in action until May 4 when it plays Harbor Teacher Prep at Henderson Field in Wilmington, then hosts Community Harvest at the Culver Marine Little League complex May 6 at 3 p.m. 

The softball team, still in search of its first win, travels to South Park Recreation Center on May 9 to take on Animo Robinson at 3 p.m. in its season finale.