VALLEY CENTER – Before the season began, one local newspaper picked the Valley Center girls volleyball team to finish fourth in their league. Thursday, the Jaguars (20-10, 7-1) pulled into a tie atop the Valley League, dominating visiting Mt. Carmel and avenging an earlier loss to the Sundevils, 25-19, 25-20, 25-15. In the sweep, junior Megan Glennie led all players with 15 kills and fellow junior Stephanie Becvar added 14 kills and five digs.

“We just really played together as a team tonight,” Glennie said. “We all talked a lot and encouraged each other. It was really good.”

It was also a radical departure from the teams' first meeting, when Mt. Carmel (14-5, 7-1) rolled over an admittedly uninspired Jaguars team. In front of its home crowd yesterday, Valley Center appeared to have all the answers.

“I was nervous at first, but in the second game, we knew we were pumped up,” sophomore Alexis Combs said. “I think it's the crowd that helps us get pumped up, and they were really loud today.”

Combs finished with four kills, four aces and seven digs.

“I think every time she has gotten in and started, she's led the team in digs,” Jaguars head coach Nate Rendon said. “As a sophomore, that's a tall order.” That defense was part of helped the Jaguars put their earlier loss to Mt. Carmel behind them.

“What we didn't do the first time was play defense,” Rendon said. “We didn't dig the ball and turn it in to points. For us, that was the difference.” Rendon wasn't the only one who saw a change. Sundevils head coach Bri Beal-Raphael said Valley Center's aggressiveness took her team out of the match and never let them back in.

“They were just ready to play us,” she said. “We just didn't play like a team – we didn't have any team spirit, and they just came out and took it from us. They just outplayed us, to be honest.”

With both teams bearing down on the postseason (Valley Center has four matches remaining and Mt. Carmel has three), Beal-Raphael said a late-season loss might have a silver lining.

“Typically I would tell my team, 'Tomorrow's a new day; let's move on,'” she said. “This one, I want them to let it sink in a little bit. I think this will humble us a little, and I hope we can grow from it.”

Senior Sarah Votel led the Sundevils with 10 kills. Senior setter Sam Warner had 26 assists.

On the Jaguars' sideline, Thursday's match was the end to arguably the most important week of the season, as Valley Center topped rivals Westview and Mt. Carmel in consecutive sweeps.

“I challenged them this week,” Rendon said. “I said, 'We play (the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the league), and our fate, for the most part, will be decided this week. It's put up or shut up.'”

For the Jaguars, the choice was obvious.

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