COMMUNITY COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : Motivated Golden West Wins State Title

NORWALK — Albert Gasparian, Golden West women’s volleyball coach, had the perfect motivational story for his team Sunday in the final of the state tournament at Cerritos College.

The quick speech worked as the Rustlers beat Long Beach, 15-11, in a one-game playoff for the state title. With the victory, Golden West became the first team to win three consecutive state titles.

The playoff game became necessary when Long Beach beat Golden West, 15-4, 12-15, 15-9, 15-12, Sunday to leave each team with one loss in the double-elimination tournament.

Gasparian reminded his players that Golden West’s water polo team needed to go to overtime to win the state title two weeks before. Several members of the water polo team attended the match Sunday.

“Once he put it that way, we went in there and kicked their butts,” said Golden West’s Jessica Redding, who was the tournament’s most valuable player.

Redding, who was blocked well by Long Beach in the four-game loss, had four kills in the final game. The Rustlers (24-3) took command early, opening a 6-2 lead. The advantage grew to 14-6 before Long Beach rallied. The Vikings eventually scored four consecutive points to make it 14-11.

But Golden West’s Ursula Luna had a kill to win a sideout, then added another kill for the final point of the match. She had 16 kills. Mary Luhrs had 17 and Redding 12 for Golden West.