In a tight WBAL race at the top, the Menlo volleyball team was faced with a match against its rivals on their senior night and on the road to determine whether they would share the league title or win it outright.
After falling behind two sets to none, Menlo clawed its way to a comeback for the ages. The Knights (10-0) defeated Sacred Heart Prep (8-2) in a reverse sweep 23-25, 21-25,25-19, 25-17,15-12 in Tuesday’s regular-season finale.
In the fifth set, the lead changed four times before freshman Lily Kautai directed a ball to the deep corner to pull within one point for the last time. Sophomore Cleo Hardin picked up a kill on an overpass and senior Kami Israelski delivered an ace as Menlo took a 12-11 lead. Hardin and senior Simone Adam extended the lead with kills before SHP got the ball back on a Menlo service error.
Senior Hanna Hoffman set senior middle Jazi Chen who had one of her nine kills on the day for the winner down the center. Chen finished with a remarkable 90 percent hitting efficiency.
Hardin, a sophomore, tallied a team-high 16 kills on 44 percent hitting. Hoffman distributed 35 assists, 16 digs, eight kills and five aces and fellow senior Adam had 13 kills, five aces and 16 digs. Senior Zoe Gregory posted 24 assists, 11 digs and a pair of aces. Senior Sharon Nejad contributed 12 kills and senior Hallie MacDonald had 23 digs.
The Knights now await their CCS matchup announced after Thursday’s seeding meeting.