It wasn’t pretty but the Lightning found a way to beat a scrappy Whitney High team in Cerritos in four sets 25-19, 28-26, 22-25, 25-22. There seems to be a pattern with Sage where they get off to a fast start and then an inevitable lull comes somewhere in the second or third set. Today was no exception to that rule. After easily taking Game 1 the Lightning built a nice lead in Game 2 only to see Whitney come roaring back to make the match more exciting than Sage fans would prefer. After squeaking out a win in the second set that put the Lightning up 2-0 in the best of five sets they were poised to close the match out in the third set. Whitney had a different plan and pushed past the Lightning to win a closely contested third set. With Sage up 24-20 in Game 4 the next three points were controversial and were either reversed or replayed before Sage finally took the fourth set and the match. Nicky Boulos and Kyle Jaffe were spectacular defensively combining for 42 digs in the match. Nicky had 23 digs and Kyle added his own 19 digs that frustrated Whitney for the entire contest. Jack Burgi had a personal best and team high 17 kills for the Lightning followed closely by Chris Zadra with 16 kills. As Sage fans have come to expect, Kent Kawaguchi had another outstanding match recording a season high 43 assists while also adding 10 kills, 4 aces and 3.5 blocks to his credit. Cameron Hall served very well in the match and picked up 2 aces when they were needed most. Creagan Lydon continues to be a valuable asset to Sage both offensively with 7 kills and defensively with 2.5 blocks. The Lightning now take a week off for spring break standing at 12-9 overall and 3-1 in Academy League play. Sage plays again on Tuesday, April 10th at home against Oxford at 5pm.