Quickest Whip Of The League

By Michael Ashcraft --

Jillian Jenkins is dominant. Few can block her hits, few can return them. She is to her team what Messi is to soccer. She makes victory easy.

Against Hillcrest Christian of Thousand Oaks, Jillian, a sophomore, displayed the full arsenal of weapons: 18 kills, 5 aces. That's basically one-third of three games of points.

"She's going to go far," Coach Jessica Young says. "From the beginning tournament until now, she's doing the best she's ever done. She takes correction. She's humble. She was off in the beginning. She knew what she had to change. Everything went in after that."

Jillian's hand works like a whip when she whacks the ball.

Lighthouse disheartened Hillcrest 25-17, 25-15, 25-8. Hillcrest is a powerhouse, but Lighthouse didn't get intimidated. It gets inspired.

Freshman Eden Garcia played almost as perfect as her Garden: 4 aces, 2 kills, 9 digs.

Setter Shayla Papik squared up 21 assists.

No one in the league has a better attack ratio. Even when it is pushed to its limits to return a hard attack, Lighthouse from dig to set to hit almost always manages to get an attack. Behind Shayla, there are two alternate setters, Eden and Riley Gonzalez.

Riley, who is libero, managed an astonishing set with a behind her back bump from the far corner of the back row right to the outside hitter.

When you get plays like that, you shake your head in disbelief.

Karine Keyser, Bethania Wonagseged and Lucy Young rounded out the Saints hit squad.