Sports
She flies like a butterfly and stings like a bee
But she's not Ali, as in Mohammad. She's Allie, as in Scribner. She just led LCA girls volleyball to first round playoff win in 10 years.
By Michael Ashcraft --
She's from a different time and a different sport, but she's a champion just like her fellow top fighter, nearly honomymously named Muhammad Ali.
Oh, she's a heavyweight, for sure.
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Allie Scribner believed in herself and believed in her team to play an almost perfect game against Eisenhower High School Thursday evening in Rialto.
The sophomore team captain aced serves, chased balls, launched perfect sets from anywhere on the court. She hit with power and blocked with ferocity. She took flight like a butterfly and stung her opponents like a swarm.
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And when it came down to the last set and all Lighthouse Christian Academy needed was three serves to win its first second round playoff game in a decade, Allie with ice in her veins didn't waver.
She aced one, slammed another and crushed a third.
"Allie's a beast," said Coach Jessica Young. "She never gives up. Allie just made one mistake. She touches the ball every play. She plays smart. She's looking for holes constantly. She's encouraging to the team. She gives great set after great set."
Fellow heavywieght Dahlia Gonzalez made the last block of the game, and the tiny school from Santa Monica beat the high school with 2,200 students. Lighthouse with just 45 students has a talent pool 50 times smaller to draw from.
The girls burst into tears. They slumped over onto the court. They hugged each other in disbelief.
As if culminating a season of practice and games, Lighthouse played its best game ever in Game 4, edging the Eagles 27-25. In Game 5, they nearly lost it on the final stretch, falling a couple points behind until they sealed the victory 15-13.
But the Saints started weakly, losing 11-25.
Thir spikes went long. Their serves were poor. The girls didn't click. Meanwhile, Eisenhower played smartly with precious few mistakes.
"We started out really weak. We were missing our starter, Elizabeth (Foreman)," said Coach Jessica. "All the odds were against us today. Roxy's wrist today, Allie's wrist, Clara's foot, now Dahlia did something to her thigh. But we just claim that with God all things are possible."
By Game 2, Lighthouse started to find its form. The irony is that the winning streak of points was struck by senior Ireland Daniel. She serves underhanded. At times, it appears her lobs barely make it over the net. Opponents snickered and sneered.
Yet they struggled against Ireland, perhaps because they had no practice against the beginner's method of serving. Ireland sparked the turnaround run to victory.
"Nobody is serving underhanded right now, and maybe it threw them off," Coach Jessica observed. "Honestly, there's a higher power involved. We got our highest streak of points with her. It really seems supernatural."
In Game 3, the Eagles reasserted their dominance and swooped in on a 23-25 win.
It didn't matter. Lighthouse was reigning in their long spikes and recalibrating their targeting on serves.
They had lost the game but not their mental strength.
Game 4 was a close affair. Because either team had to win by two, the game went to 27-25.
Junior Clara Czer, playing sick, playing with a sprained ankle, was smacking down balls like demons being cast out of Heaven. Libero Roxy Photenhauer, a junior, intercepted the Cruise Missiles Eisenhower sent over. Sophomore Frida Macias, always unflappable, honed her initially wild shots.
By Game 5, the momentum shifted. Both teams went ahead in points during the 15-pointer.
Lighthouse won the sideout and needed just three points to win.
No one better took the pitching mound. All that was needed was three fireballs.
Three knockout punches.
The champ delievered.
Read about LCA's other games:
Michael Ashcraft teaches journalism at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica.
