The Valencia girls volleyball team knew better than to take an improved Golden Valley team for granted.

Especially after the Grizzlies played a couple of close games against West Ranch last week.

The Vikings beat Golden Valley 3-0 Tuesday night by scores of 25-8, 25-16 and 25-18 that didn't leave much doubt.

"We were pretty focused on what we needed to do tonight. The girls did a really good job not looking past Golden Valley," said Valencia head coach Ray Sanchez.

With a one-game lead in the Foothill League standings, the Vikings (15-10, 8-1) face off against second-place West Ranch on Thursday at West Ranch High. With a win, Valencia will clinch an outright league title.

If the Vikings lose and Saugus wins its match, there will be a three-way tie for first place.

"I think everyone knows and everyone's aware what is at stake," Sanchez said. "The prospect of a tri-league champion just isn't that appealing to us."

Valencia's Alexa Schmidt led the team with eight kills Tuesday night, and Serena LeDuff added seven kills of her own. Brooke Dawson was the match's top defender with 20 digs.

West Ranch 3, Hart 0
Four West Ranch players had at least seven kills in Tuesday night's matchup against Hart.

The Wildcats won 3-0 by scores of 25-13, 25-19 and 25-19.

Sarah McGough led with 10 kills followed by Angel Rutledge (nine), Bree Braucher (nine) and Hannah Orlandi (seven).

West Ranch (16-13, 7-2) kept its hopes alive for claiming a share of the league title, which will happen if it can get past Valencia on Thursday.

The Wildcats won the previous matchup 3-2 on Oct. 19.

"I was more scared of tonight's match than Thursday's match just because I didn't want us worried about Valencia when we had a tough match tonight," said Wildcats head coach Nate Sparks.

Shelby Kunz led West Ranch with 15 digs and Tani Slauson had 35 assists in the win over Hart (9-16, 3-6).

"They were calm, focused and they played to precision tonight," Sparks said of his team.