Xie xie, Shay Shay

By Morgan Miles –

Maybe they had a case of the Mondays.

Lighthouse Christian Academy was not at its finest. They hemorrhaged points on serves. Hits misfired. Instead of the fine-tuned Swiss watch of perfectly synchronized moving parts on the court, there was disorder. There were bumper cars.

Even with a few pistons misfiring, the Saints managed the win in four sets against Milken Community School in the Santa Monica Mountains: 25-22, 25-21, 23-25, and 25-22.

“We didn’t do as good as we could have done. Our passing was off in the first game, and we missed a lot of serves in the second game,” said Coach Jessica Young. “We were slightly demoralized by the amount of calls in favor of the other team. In the last game when we had a timeout, I just prayed. I was like, ‘God forgive me for hatred.’ I just prayed the whole time. Every time I opened my mouth, I couldn’t get words out.

“Shayla (Papik) was on today,” she added. “She was hitting great.”

The 5’7” sophomore was spanking balls with her uncommon strength. She had 13 kills. She clobbered the ball on serves.

“We fought hard,” Shayla says. “We could have done better.”

Other standouts were freshmen Jillian Jenkins and Riley Gonzalez.

“Jilly and Riley had some great passes in the back row,” Coach Jessica said. “We just needed to tighten up our blocking. Jill was amazing. She was all over the floor. Riley, great passes.”

Jill and Riley, both with three aces, had serving streaks for megapoints for the Saints.

It’s good to have fresh fire. Fire from the freshmen.

Sophomore Karine Keyser made two clutch blocks at center. She scored a host of points serving and played the back row.

“I did well cuz I got no sleep because of Miss Peterson’s project,” Karine said. “I guess when I’m tired in the morning it makes me energetic in the evening.”

Not unusually, Dahlia Gonzalez was hitting bullseyes. She got 17 kills.

“Dahlia left me speechless with a hit down the line. It was like threading a needle,” Coach Jessica said. “She got a periwinkle hit. It’s a slice that falls behind the 10-foot line. She wanted to do that. She calls it a periwinkle.”

Why a "periwinkle" hit?

"Because that's my favorite color," Dahlia explained.

The Saints are undefeated so far.

So if some of the players didn't have their best game, thanks to those who pulled through.

In Chinese, xie xie to Shay Shay, to Riley, to Jill, to Karine and to Dahlia.

Read more about LCA volleyball: the Jill Chills (Game 1). Sharp shooter Shayla (Game 2), No return policy (Game 3) , Abigail is Elsa (Game 4), God Balls (Game 5), Little girl beat up big boy (Game 6), Craziah for Keziah (Game 7) Flower power (Game 8).

About this reporter: Morgan Miles studies journalism at the Lighthouse Christian Academy of Santa Monica.