Venice Volleyball Team Wins in Nail-Biter

The Venice girls' volleyball team match Monday night against Palisades Charter High School went back and forth, but the Gondoliers ultimately prevailed. 

They were led by captain Molly Lieske, who notched a team-high 10 kills.  But while Lieske filled up the stats book, freshman Darrin Rice established herself by coming up big for the Gondoliers with clutch serves in the third set.

After winning the first set, Venice watched as the Palisades Dolphins took a 13-4 lead in the second set. Venice scored only nine times in the set, and the match was tied up.

But after falling behind 22-20 in the third set, Rice, playing libero, led the Gondoliers to four straight points, due in large part to the 5' 2" player's big jump serve. Venice finished the third set 25-23, to take a 2-1 lead.

But again in the fourth set, Palisades established dominance early, shooting out to a 12-6 lead before tying the match up with a 25-13 win.

In the fifth and final set, it was Venice who shot out to the early lead, taking a 6-1 advantage early on. After holding off a brief comeback, the Gondoliers put the game away 15-9 in the fifth, winning the match 3-2.

Co-captains Sarah Takagaki and Katie Mercado were able to notch eight and six kills, respectively, and tough defensive blocking was the key towards the end of the match.

The win puts the Gondoliers back at .500 for the season with a 4-4 record. They are undefeated in their league, 3-0.

Next up Venice has back-to-back home games against University High on Wednesday and against Fairfax on Oct. 4.