Girls middle school volleyball team wins Marlborough Tournament

Photo Courtesy of Tino Hernandez champs—In an exciting day and an incredible tournament, the Panthers suffered a loss against host Marlborough earlier in the day in pool play. The Panthers won the remainder of their games and defeated the host in the fi

The high school girls’ volleyball team is not the only volleyball team winning championships in Culver City. The Culver City Middle School Panthers won the very competitive Marlborough Tournament last month.

This is the second time in three years the Panthers have won the Marlborough Tournament.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of all of the girls and how excited I am for all of them,” said former Culver City High School and current middle school coach Marty Seigal.

Next year’s team will return only three players because the rest will graduate this year. The returning players are Dila Thorne, Ashley Baizer and Lauren Tishkoff.

The players that will be graduating are Halen Anderson, Claribel Alcantar, Sofia Cerecedes, Alyssa Hernandez, Karina Hernandez, Veronica Ibrahim, Keely Martin, Megan Shimoda and Malea Stanton.

The Panthers suffered a loss to Marlborough earlier in the day in pool play. That loss put Culver City in the bracket where they would have to face a strong Manhattan Beach team. They beat Manhattan Beach along with two other middle school teams to reach the finals in a rematch against the host team, Marlborough.

The finals turned into pulse pounding point for point seesaw battle that left players and fans exhausted. When it was all over Culver City emerged victorious 30-28. The Panthers were led by tournament MVP Alyssa Hernandez.

Last week Culver City girls volleyball team lost to Santa Monica 3-1. That loss gave both teams a 6-1 record and they were tied for first place.