Volleyball Report - Nov. 20

Hamilton handles Mercy

When the California Scholastic Federation instituted rally scoring a few years back to speed up volleyball matches, they really succeeded.

Because in 42 minutes of action on Tuesday night in Hamilton City, there was more drama and changes of momentum than most football teams experience during their entire season. Top-seeded Hamilton knocked off visiting No. 8 squad Mercy, 25-17, 25-15, 25-12 in the Northern Section's Division V quarterfinals.

Despite suffering a sweep and second-round exit from the playoffs, the Lady Warriors established leads on the best team in the division in all three games.

Mercy's crowd was on its feet immediately as Benicia Grace hammered the first kill of the night to put the Lady Warriors on the board, 1-0, in Game 1. 

But in true playoff atmosphere, Mercy lost a great rally in which two terrific, floor-shaking digs by server Daniella Gutierrez were wasted, and Hamilton eventually battled back to tie the score at 6, 10, 11 and 13. 

Grace ripped a pair of aces and Hamilton had three errors from the line before embarking on an eight-point run with Devoney Platt at the line. Platt landed four aces during the rally, Aubrey Bekendam belted a pair of kills and before Mercy knew it, the Lady Braves hosts led 19-13. 

As Lady Warriors coach Zane Zelei pointed out after the match, his team never quit playing great volleyball. They just happened to be playing one of the best teams in the section.

"The girls played well," he said. "We played great - against the first-seeded team."

The hosts mixed dink shots with attacks from the middle and left outside, crossing up Mercy's defense to generate their lead. Tessa Bekendam kissed the line with a stroke from the outside, Aubrey pounded one into the hardwood on a short set in the middle and Platt polished off the victory with an aggressive back-row attack.

Aubrey served an ace to open Game 2, but Hamilton was held scoreless over the next eight rallies to fall behind 8-1.

The Lady Braves struggled to pass, and Allison Wong rattled their serve-receive with an ace. Christina Ordorica also rapped a kill and a block during Mercy's momentum-shifting surge.

Mercy stretched its lead to 10 points with Maureen Dorsett at the service line, as she jacked up her teammates with three aces in a row. Mercy's 13-3 lead seemed insurmountable, but again, Hamilton proved resilient and impossible to frustrate mentally or emotionally.

The Lady Braves scored the next 14 points, 13 of which were served by Tessa. Her sister Aubrey branded four kills during the game and Elyse Anderson struck three during that comeback run alone.

Hamilton's preference to attack from the left outside was clearly established during this streak, and it exposed a weakness in Mercy's defense that was never remedied. Hamilton deftly turned a 10-point deficit into a 10-point victory, and put Mercy in the position of having to win three games in a row to swing the match, which hasn't been done to Hamilton once this season. The team's five losses all came to upper-division schools, and just one was a sweep, a 2-0 fluke to a good but wildly inconsistent Paradise squad at the Red Bluff Invitational.

Instead of folding, however, Mercy continued to fight. The Lady Warriors jumped out to a 6-0 lead in Game 3 behind Wong's strong serving efforts.

Tessa Bekendam spurred Hamilton's comeback with three aces, as the hosts tied the score at 10 and eventually rallied with eight straight points to pull ahead. The Lady Warriors' serve-receive began to break down, and the game spiraled out of control with Jessekah McCorkle at the line. The Hamilton junior scored six aces during a nine-point serving stretch to close out the game and the match.

Zelei stressed the positive and memorable points of the Lady Warriors' performance.

"The girls were understandably upset but we had a good season," he said. "I still think they played well all the way to the end. We had the lead in all three games but when Hamilton got on a roll, we couldn't shut them down."

Mercy's season ends one win shy of 20 but with a perfect league campaign to boast. The Lady Warriors were 6-0 to earn the inaugural Tri-Cities League title and 19-14 overall. Hamilton, the undefeated MVL champion at 10-0 (32-5 overall), hosted No. 5 Durham Thursday  in the semifinals.

Hayfork pitches loss at Providence

The seventh-seeded Lady Lions of Providence Christian were up against it Tuesday, needing to make the long trip to Hayfork to battle the No. 2-seeded Timberjacks. Despite their best efforts - winning the first game and keeping two more of them close - Hayfork halted Providence's Division VI playoff run by defeating the Lions 20-25, 25-20, 25-11, 25-20.

No further information was available.

Providence finished the season with a record of 12-8.

Willows pruned by Sutter

Willows faced a tall order Tuesday as they attempted to knock off one of the most powerful volleyball teams in the Northstate in Sutter, but the 39-1 Huskies would have none of it as they beat the Honkers 25-18. 25-13, 25-18.

No further information was available. 

Willows closed its season with a 19-13 mark.

Bulldogs bitten by Portola

It would have been quite an upset if seventh-seeded Los Molinos had beaten the No. 2 seed Portola in the Division V playoffs, but the Tigers made sure it did not happen by downing the visiting Bulldogs 25-14, 25-23, 25-11.

Los Molinos had problems on its attack, as they teamed for just 15 kills, with Kiersten Seaman and Kirstin Wagenfuhr each accounting for four.

Rosaura Castillo pitched in 10 digs for the Lady Bulldogs, who finished the season with a record of 24-11-3.