Pismo Power

By Michael Ashcraft --

Suddenly Jillian Jenkins found herself not as the primary hitter but just one of four.

Her normal haul of kills was diminished as other stars emerged in the galaxy as Lighthouse Christian Academy solidly sunk the Mariners of Saint Monica's Preparatory Wednesday in a friendly volleyball match.

"Our bench was able to perform," said Coach Jessica Young. "We did amazing with our serves. We had multiple hitters. It was a team process."

LCA won in three sets: 25-15, 25-19, 26-24.

Normally, junior Jill scores about a third of all points with her well-placed kills.

Not this time. She took home only 11.

But that was not because she had am unspectacular game. It's because other hitters suddenly performed spectacularly too.

To start off in Set #1, Emma Mefford set the Saints ablaze with hits and blocks at center. The senior moved back to Santa Monica from Pismo Beach, where her dad was pastoring and a vice principal at a Christian school before the board canned his boss.

Miss Pismo Power put 4 kills and 2 blocks into her pail as one puts clams into a pail at the beach.

"I locked in. I was applying what coaches told me to do yesterday in practice," Emma says. "It feels really good on the court. We're ready for playoffs. Everyone is working together and doing what they're really good at."

In Set #2, the Saints were trailing, when Jill sprang into action with difference-making serves and hits to pull up the Saints.

In Set #3, the Saints were trailing again, this time more seriously, when Eden Garcia launched on a serving streak to overtake the Mariners.

By game's end, Jill had 11 kills, 4 aces and 2 blocks. Senior Shayla Papik got 3 kills and 5 aces.

But the Queen of the Match was Kallie McKinney, who calm, cool and collected terrorized the poor girls from Saint Monica's with 9 kills and 2 blocks.

"For the past three games, I've been tipping so much, and the teams are just not ready for it," Kallie says. "So I came out in the game ready to do that, and they were very slow on their toes."

Here's troubling news for the rest of Omega League. Kallie is a freshman. That means she's bringing three more years of kills and blocks to the Saints.

Usually, schools have their good and bad years. But Lighthouse has a star-producing machine that guarantees a constant output of top performers.

Jill doesn't mind sharing the kills.

It takes a burden off her, and when she relaxes, she performs even better.

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About this writer: Mike Ashcraft teaches journalism, Spanish and literature at the Lighthouse Christian Academy.