Halvorson's heroics lead Thousand Oaks volleyball past Westlake

Saylor Halvorsen would not be stopped.

The junior pin hitter and reigning Ventura County Star Girls Volleyball Player of the Year smashed ball after ball into the hardwood as she amassed 22 kills to lead Thousand Oaks High to a 25-19, 25-22, 25-17 sweep over visiting Westlake on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

“I got my momentum,” Halvorsen said. “I was like, ‘Let’s get this over with.’ ”

She strung together three straight kills midway through the third and final set to halt a Westlake comeback and put Thousand Oaks up 16-12, then came up big again on the final point, hammering down the deciding kill of the match.

Fellow outside hitter and fellow BYU commit Halle Bryce was the second half of the Lancers’ two-headed monster above the net with 11 kills and three solo blocks. The duo combined for 33 of their team’s 42 total kills. Halvorsen also finished with a team-high 11 digs.

Setters Aella Keays (17 assists) and Savannah Tung (15 assists) put the ball where it needed to be.

“They were able to put the ball away,” Thousand Oaks head coach James Park said of his team’s dynamic hitting duo. “As long as the ball is high, they are able to swing. Even after a few blocks they were able to put the ball away, because they were hitting the ball high above the block.”

The victory was vital for the Lancers, who improved to 24-8 on the season and 4-4 in the Marmonte League, as they vie for the league’s third and final CIF-Southern Section automatic playoff bid.

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Westlake (9-10, 3-5 Marmonte) had defeated the Lancers in five sets Sept. 17 and entered the match tied in the league standings. The Warriors will have to defeat both of their next two opponents to finish about .500 and qualify for an at-large bid to the postseason.

“Until I quit, which won’t happen until we are out, they won’t stop,” Westlake head coach Brendan Keane said. “I think we still have a great chance. It will take a little bit of luck and a little bit of perfection.”

Westlake will face Newbury Park on the road Oct. 8 and will host Oaks Christian on Oct. 13.

The Warriors defense kept them in the match early, thanks to strong blocking on Halvorsen and Bryce and a back row that kept the ball off the hardwood. Keane credited his team’s preparation for their ability to block the Lancers’ future NCAA Division I hitters so effectively early on.

“Our job is to bend,” Keane said. “They will take points as they will — they are extremely talented — but our job is to slow them down once a rotation. That is all we need to do to go on a few runs.”

Keane said outside hitter Taylor Daley and libero Mikayla Washington were key to igniting the runs that kept Westlake battling late into competitive sets with Thousand Oaks.

“As soon as they make a play, we are back,” Keane said. “The lights flicker back on.”

Westlake was tied, 23-23, in the second set before kills from Bryce and Halvorsen iced the 25-23 win for Thousand Oaks.

Scoring came from Daley (five kills, two aces), sophomore middle Payton Gross (four kills) and oppo Maya Yung (four kills, two blocks). Freshman Eva Shibel was called up from JV to fill in for a sick player and gave the Warriors excellent rotations in the middle, finishing with three kills and three block assists.

The match was the second to last time Park will coach in his home gym. After 21 consecutive seasons leading the Lancers, the veteran coach told The Star he plans to step down at the end of this season.

“He makes it so fun,” Halvorsen said of Park. “We feel determined to win. It being his last year, we just want to do well for him so that he goes out with a bang.”

Dominic Massimino covers volleyball for The Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Halvorson’s heroics lead Thousand Oaks volleyball past Westlake