By Emily Carbajal

The Granada Hills Charter High School (GHC) varsity girls volleyball team had their first home game against North Hollywood High School on September 21. With a new coach leading, the team has already shown a strong start to their season, with a 2-0 win.

GHC dominated the first set with sophomore Weiwei Gao and senior Amy Fukunaga providing strong serving and spikes. Despite a few errors, the team continued to succeed, setting the tone early with a 25-13 first set victory.

The second set proved more competitive as North Hollywood had a close comeback with a 17-18 score by the first timeout. Although the Highlanders experienced some setbacks in this set, the team soon regained momentum with Gao tipping for the set winning point, securing a second set victory of a score of 25-21.

“It’s just really fulfilling to see all of our hard work pay off,” Gao said. “Five a.m. practices, going to Mission College practices, and having a new coach all require getting used to, but are definitely worth it.”
By the third set, blocks from junior Emma Ochoa and spikes from Fukunaga built a strong foundation to the set. Junior Lucinda Mitchell also helped push the team ahead with her steady serving, including one play where a serve barely made it over the net. The Highlanders eventually scored another victory with a score of 25-14, securing a game sweep.

The first home game victory not only highlighted a great start to the season, but a great start for new coach, Donaldo Morales.

“I want to see the team maximize their mental ability,” Coach Morales said. “I want them to be a lot tougher in those tight situations. I want them to really trust the new system that we’re trying to run. We’re trying to be fast. We’re trying to be creative. We’re trying to be just full of variety as we go with our offense and with our new system.”

Even while experiencing some adjustment challenges, he still remains strong in his hope to better this team.

“West Valley is a tough league, competing against El Camino, Cleveland, and Chatsworth, who are all going to be good this year,” Coach Morales said. “But the biggest thing is just taking it one game at a time and making sure that we’re making adjustments after every single game. We’re watching films, looking at stats, and just trying to work every single day to improve.”