By Loren Kopff  10/30/09

Los Angeles Sonny Okamoto, the long time girls volleyball head coach at Gahr, had it all planned out before his team faced Bakersfield Christian to begin pool play action of the Marlborough Tournament last Satuday.  In order to have a chance of making the playoffs, the Gladiators needed to go at least 2-1 in pool play, then beat either Warren or Paramount next week.

Okamoto got the wins he needed at the tournament as the Gladiators were swept by Bakersfield Christian 25-18, 25-21 but rebounded to sweep Village Christian 25-18, 25-14 and St. Mary’s Academy 25-8, 25-6.  Gahr then lost to the host school 25-14 in the first round of the playoffs.  Including a sweep of  last place Dominguez this past Tuesday, Gahr was sporting an overall record of 12-11 with four more left in the regular season.

Gahr was leading most of the way against Bakersfield Christian but surrendered four straight points at the end of both games.  Senior middle hitter Chelsea Heyward and senior outside hitter Tiffany McCray combined for nine kills in the match.  After beating Village Christian, the last place team from the Olympic League, Gahr has no problems against the Belles.  Junior defensive specialist Katie Christiansen led off by serving 10 straight points with five aces and three kills from senior setter Leeanne Currie.  In the second game, Christiansen reeled off five straight points with McCray getting four of her 12 kills in that rally.  However, in the playoffs, Gahr couldn’t build momentum after leading 7-4 as the Mustangs ran off eight straight points and never looked back.

“I’m watching Village Christian play right now and we did a good job serving them” Okamoto said moments after the lost.  “We actually hit the spots when we played them.  When we played Marlborough we didn’t hit our spots. So there is the difference again in which team showed up.” 

Gahr will visit Warren on Tuesday, hoping to avenge an earlier loss to the Bears.  Should Gahr loose that match, then the biggest match of the season will be Thursday when Gahr hosts Paramount in a battle for third place and a automatic berth to the postseason.

“If I beat Warren, I’m in the playoffs,” Okamoto said.  “I don’t have to worry about Paramount.  My focus for the kids is one play at a time. That’s their job.  They don’t go after a ball, then they watch a ball drop.  They try to play defense with their eyes.  They don’t make moves to the ball like they should.  The bottom line is the team that makes the least mistakes is going to win.”