![\"Torrey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-preps-0922-011.jpg\")
Torrey Pines senior Lila Green stands with teammates during practice on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, at Torrey Pines High School gym in San Diego, CA. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nLiberos are different.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re routinely the shortest players in girls volleyball, a sport that is greatly impacted by height. They run on and off the court without bothering to sub in. They can\u2019t attack or block. They can\u2019t overhand set in front of the 3-meter line.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t even wear the same uniform as their teammates. In fact, this season at the high school level, a team can play with two liberos and both can wear different-colored jerseys.<\/p>\n
Lila Green has been different her whole life.<\/p>\n
The Torrey Pines High School senior libero stands out partly because she\u2019s one of the best at her position in the nation, committed to No. 22-ranked Kansas.<\/p>\n
Green also stands out because of the large patch on her left arm. Green is a type 1 diabetic, an autoimmune condition where your pancreas doesn\u2019t make insulin or makes very little insulin. Type 1 diabetes can be fatal if left untreated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible how much of a high-level athlete Lila is and will continue to be while being a type 1 diabetic,\u201d said Falcons senior middle Stella Delgadillo, who is committed to Northwestern. \u201cThe more impressive thing is how you would honestly never know because she doesn\u2019t let it affect her. She\u2019s the toughest person I know and is able to power through anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green was diagnosed at 18 months old. She used to wear an insulin pump, but now comfortably wears a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), which tracks her glucose, and an OmniPod, which gives her insulin.<\/p>\n
Green played baseball and soccer before finding volleyball at 10. In soccer, she needed to keep her glucose at higher levels because of the constant running.\u00a0With as much court as she covers in volleyball, it would be natural to assume she prefers the same. But that\u2019s not the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has been the fun and challenging part for me is figuring out what allows me to play my best,\u201d said Green, who has 876 career digs in her third year as the starting libero for Torrey Pines. \u201cI\u2019ve noticed I enjoy playing volleyball with my blood sugar a little on the lower side because I feel I\u2019m paying attention more.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a recent home match, she ran into the scorer\u2019s table in order to keep a rally going. That toughness belies a chip on her shoulder born from overcoming adversity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been taught that even in small moments, making that extra drive or extra movement or extra effort really goes a long way, especially in those big games,\u201d Green said. \u201cAny small touch can get you back in the game or get you to win a point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Torrey Pines senior Lila Green stands with teammates during practice on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, at Torrey Pines High School gym in San Diego, CA. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
It also equals a level of leadership that goes beyond just encouraging her teammates.<\/p>\n
Torrey Pines is 9-3, the consensus No. 1 team in San Diego according to the Union-Tribune\u2019s most recent poll. The Falcons have defeated Southern California blue-blood programs Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, San Juan Capistrano JSerra Catholic, Santa Margarita, Los Angeles Marymount and Studio City Harvard-Westlake. Their three losses have come against the Nos. 1, 2 and 17 teams in the nation in the most recent USA TODAY Sports\/AVCA Super 25 rankings.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s one of our best leaders,\u201d said Noly Mon, in his first year as coach at Torrey Pines. \u201cShe very muchkeeps our team together. She knows how to keep that balance between goofy and serious. Knows the game very well and reads very well. Her personality is amazing, but I love coaching her because of her leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green will graduate in January and head to Kansas for spring workouts. Also graduating early is Falcons senior outside Jaycee Mack, who is headed to Hawaii.<\/p>\n
Mack praised Green for her ability to lead in different ways during different moments of a match or season.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe brings this sense of calm,\u201d said Mack, who leads the team with 92 digs to go with 50 kills. \u201cEspecially in serve receive if you get aced one or two times in a row, she\u2019s always there to help bring me back to my headspace where I can pass. She\u2019s very fiery, and she has amazing energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
When that energy runs low, the team and Green\u2019s parents have Gatorades, bars and a candy bag nearby. Green routinely comes off the court while one of the middles serve. If that subsequent serve is missed, you\u2019ll see her sometimes quickly run back onto the court with a handful of gummy bears in her fist.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a reminder that maintaining a healthy glucose level is always at hand.<\/p>\n
Earlier this season when the Falcons traveled to JSerra, Green called her mom because her pod was set to expire at 5 p.m. and asked her to bring another one. Her mom filled one up and also brought an extra pen as a backup. The pod failed, so Green\u2019s only option was to take a couple shots with the pen. She finished with 17 digs and five assists in a five-set win.<\/p>\n
![\"Torrey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-preps-0922-009.jpg\")
Torrey Pines senior Lila Green hits the ball during practice on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, at Torrey Pines High School gym in San Diego, CA. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Green is part of the Dexcom Warrior program, which shares stories of student-athletes with type 1 diabetes at the college level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always felt like I wanted to be a voice for other people because I didn\u2019t grow up with anyone that was diabetic that went through the same things as me,\u201d Green said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely something I\u2019m excited to see what comes from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although she wants to explore sports psychology as a career, she has one thing on her mind over the next few months \u2014 bring a second consecutive CIF Open Division championship to Torrey Pines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to take it again,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mon is carrying four libero\/defensive specialists on the roster and knows the position that perhaps defines the decades of program success is in good hands with the influence of Green for a couple more months.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the girls in our program look up to Lila,\u201d Mon said. \u201cShe\u2019s a great leader who can back it up with her skills. But she\u2019s a great person and a great teammate. She\u2019s a great influence on this program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Delgadillo takes it a step further. She has watched how simply being connected to Green has made incredibly positive impacts on those in and out of the program.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s enough to create a firm description of what makes Green different.<\/p>\n
\u201cLila is such a selfless, kind and funny person,\u201d Delgadillo said. \u201cShe\u2019s also extremely easy to be friends with. She\u2019s so approachable and wants everyone around her to succeed. She is one of the most incredible people I know, being able to battle life as a teenage female athlete heading to college in a few months while being a type 1 diabetic because there is just so much that goes on behind the scenes that you would never guess, and none of it is easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to be her teammate for so long is such a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liberos are different. They\u2019re routinely the shortest players in girls volleyball, a sport that is greatly impacted by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[185335,185336,74,76,75,21810],"class_list":["post-471257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-lila-green","tag-noly-mon","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-torrey-pines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}