Lakewood Varsity Volleyball vs Poly

Moore League Volleyball Action

I haven't covered volleyball in several years, but last week I was asked to cover the Lakewood vs Poly game, which was played at Lakewood this past Thursday.  These are two top-10 teams in the state and although there is still plenty of games to go, this was for the current first place spot in the league.

Four sets were played and I have to say the last two sets were some of the best volleyball I've seen.  The energy was so intense in the gym with both sides screaming and yelling, man I loved it.

Although its been a very long time since I've shot volleyball, I am please with what I was able to capture and walk away from.

These are my favorites from the games.

Girls Volleyball - CIF Semi Finals

Volleyball is officially over for the season. Last night our girls played against Redondo Union High School in the CIF Semi-Finals at Redondo, who were last year CIF champions. Our girls just didn't play like their capable of playing. There were just too many mistakes and errors.

I had to shoot these games from the stands, as I was told I couldn't be on the floor during the games due to insurance, so I made do with what I had to work with. I just moved around to get the angle I wanted.

Believe it or not I shot all of these at ISO 3200. My camera was set on manual at f/2.8 and a shutter of 1/400. You can always learn something new and I'm finding that if I get me exposure right then I can shoot at a higher ISO with minimal noise.

2nd Round, CIF Playoff - Volleyball

The girls made it to the second round of the CIF Playoffs. They play the best of five matches and were toe-to-toe during the first match, but lost it in the end. Being behind by one match they came back stronger then ever winning the next three matches and game moving them to the next round.

Trying to take action shots is no easy task, but add shooting a team as strong as these girls then it's even harder. I just wanted to sit and watch thier intensity, energy, and focus as they played. These pictures capture the action, but by no means do they capture their intensity as I saw it on the sidelines.

Again I had to shoot at ISO 3200 and rely on my noise reduction program afterwards. The camera was on manual at f/2.8 and 1/320.

1st Round, CIF Playoff - Volleyball

Well our school won league champs and had their first CIF playoff game last night, which I almost missed. I new their season was winding down so I contacted the coach to find out if they made the playoff and was informed that they did and their first playoff game was at home last night. So needless to say after work and taking care of a few things at home I went to shoot their game. They did very well winning their first three matches winning the first round of playoffs.


Now this gym has windows alsong the ceiling which provide a lot of additional light during the day, but at night just adds to the darkness. I had to shoot their games at ISO 3200. I shot manual at f/2.8 and 1/320. Even after running the pictures through noiseware I still had a bit of noise but not too bad.


Here are some pictures of the nights action.

The girls on their way to the CIF Finals.