Derryl's Musings--The thoughts of a rookie sports reporter

Inland Sports Volleyball Key Matches week of 10/16 By: Derryl Trujillo Inland Sports Volleyball Correspondent It's a big week across the area with league titles and playoff positioning on the line in several leagues. What follows are brief previews of key matches across our area. 10/16: Big 8 Corona Santiago @ Norco 5:30pm- The Sharks can clinch a league title this evening with a road win at Norco along with Roosevelt defeating King. They are coming off winning the Division 1 title at the Hudl tournament this last weekend. Norco looks to play the role of spoiler and end a 63 match Big 8 league winning streak. Roosevelt @ King 5:30pm- King needs to win this match to keep faint hopes of a Big 8 title alive along with keeping a stranglehold on 2nd place in league. Roosevelt can create a tie for 2nd with the victory tonight. Non-League: Beaumont @ Notre Dame/Riverside 6pm- In a match originally rescheduled from Friday the Cougars (currently tied for 1st in Mountain Pass)...

Here are the current volleyball statistical leaders as of 10/7: -All statistics pulled from Maxpreps.com Kills-Minimum 35 sets played Lexy Hadrych (Vista Murrieta) 5.5 kills per set Madison Endsley (Temecula Valley) 4.8 kills per set Annika Jorgenson (Ontario Christian) 4.8 kills per set Danielle Lilley  (Citrus Valley) 4.7 kills per set Lizzy Markovska (Heritage) 4.6 kills per set Marissa Holt (Yucaipa) 4.3 kills per set Tiffany Pedersen-Henry  (Vista Murrieta) 4.2 kills per set Kaili Downs (Chaparral) 4.1 kills per set Trinity Wyscarver (Notre Dame/Riverside) 3.9 kills per set Julianne Reifer (Jurupa Valley) 3.9 kills per set Danielle Smith (Fontana) 3.8 kills per set Emma Baker (Rancho Christian) 3.7 kills per set Peyton McBride (Temecula Valley) 3.5 kills per set Kyra Bennett  (Citrus Valley) 3.4 kills per set McKenzie Pfieffer  (Corona Centennial) 3.3 kills per set Haley Gomez  (Roosevelt) 3.1 kills per set Raimi Albee (Woodcrest Christi...

Thursday, October 5, 2017 By: Derryl Trujillo  Inland Sports Volleyball Correspondent  Fifteen days ago Santa Rosa Academy visited Rancho Christian and came back with early control of the South Valley League race. Two weeks later in Menifee Rancho Christian returned the favor and prevailed 3-1 by scores of 22-25, 25-18, 36-34, 25-15 to create a first place tie atop the South Valley League with four matches to go. In set 1 Santa Rosa Academy got off to a 13-6 start behind 3 aces at the service line. Rancho Christian fought back to make it a competitve set falling by a margin of 25-22. Any kind of momentum from both sides was generated behind the service lines in sets 1 and 2. In set 2 Emma Baker got the Eagles off to a 7-2 start which was quickly erased as the Rangers fought back to grab a 9-8 lead. From that point it was all Eagles as the Ranger offense was slowed by really effective serving by Rancho Christian. Set 3 was where the momentum turned and you could real...

First place in South Valley League play is on the line as Rancho Christian visits Santa Rosa Academy to start 2nd round action. The Rangers look to create a two match gap with four to go while Rancho Christian looks for a tie at the top with this road win. Santa Rosa Academy Head Coach: Steve Jones Overall Record: 16-2-1 South Valley League: 5-0 Div 9-#8 First year head coach Steve Jones inherits a side that was 22-7 overall, 4-6 in South Valley League competition but has made the next step in competing for a league title. Sophomore Taylor Zisk leads the Ranger offense averaging 3.2 kills per set with an hitting percentage of .250% adding 1.8 digs per set. Junior Maya Medrano follows averagimg 2.1 kills per set with a .340% hitting percentage. Liliana Wise is at 1.7 kills per set hitting .311%. Setters Delany Lizarraga and Lauren Zinter both average about 3 assists per set. The Rangers are home for 3 of 5 2nd round matches along with a non-league matchup against Sherman Indian...

By: Derryl Trujillo Inland Sports Volleyball Correspondent Wednesday, October 4, 2017 Rancho Christian last took to the court on September 23rd for a tournament in San Diego. Sometimes that kind of layoff can have an adverse affect on a team. That was not the case on Tuesday night however as the Eagles set up a first place showdown on Thursday evening in Menifee with Santa Rosa Academy by knocking off Calvary Murrieta 25-14, 25-8, 24-26, 25-18. Senior Emma Baker led the Eagles effort with 18 kills recording 4 errors on 27 attempts hitting .527%. She added 9 digs and 3 aces to the effort. Sophomore Emily Vaniman added 10 kills with 3 errors on 20 swings for a .350% hitting percentage and added 2 blocks 4 digs. I asked Eagles head coach Rochelle Short if the layoff was weird and she said that it actually came at a perfect spot in the schedule right before the start of 2nd round action. Baker echoed her coaches comments saying that after a break like that it's just a matter of...

For our Inland Sports Match of the Day we'll take a trip into South Valley League territory and visit Calvary Murrieta as they welcome Rancho Christian. First serve is slated for 5pm. Winner finishes the first round in 2nd place a match behind Santa Rosa Academy. Calvary Murrieta Head Coach: James Downey Overall Record: 8-6 South Valley League: 3-1 James Downey takes the reigns of the Warrior program and looks for a big win at home to keep pace with Santa Rosa Academy who is the league leader going into play today. Look for much of the offense to be funneled thru Liz McWaters who is averaging 3.5 kills per set with the matches listed on MaxPreps. Setter Abby Roth is currently averaging 3.4 assists per set. Calvary Murrieta makes an appearance in the Southern Section coaches poll for the first time since August's watch list was released. Rancho Christian Head Coach: Rochelle Short Overall Record: 14-4 South Valley League: 3-1 Rancho Christian returns to the floor f...

Here is my look ahead at some of the key volleyball matches across our Inland Sports area this week. Monday 10/2 Big 8 League--Corona/Roosevelt @ Corona/Santiago 5:30pm The Mustangs make a trip to Santiago looking to end the Sharks 59 match Big 8 League winning streak. In last week's Division 2 poll Santiago was ranked number one by the voting coaches. Big 8 League--Centennial/Corona @ Norco 5:30pm Winner of this match evens their league record at .500% and assuming Roosevelt loses to Santiago creates a tie for 3rd in league. Citrus Belt League--Redlands East Valley @ Citrus Valley 4:30pm Winner maintains contact with league leading Yucaipa. Loser is still in playoff position but the path to a title requires some help. Tuesday 10/3 Southwestern League--Temecula Valley @ Vista Murrieta 4:30pm After getting pushed to the brink on Thursday by Murrieta Valley the Bears visit Vista Murrieta looking to continue an undefeated start to their 2017 campaign. The Broncos ar...