Freshman Girls Volleyball takes 2nd place in the Sonoma Valley Tournament
The mighty Dons started arriving at Sonoma High School around 7am on Saturday morning, excited about the challenge ahead yet blissfully unaware that they would not be heading home until after 9pm that evening. There were teams from all over northern California, ranging from San Francisco to Ukiah and as the Dons would find out, everyone brought their “A” game. The format consisted of three pools of roughly 4 teams, with each team playing the others in its pool during the first half of the day. Once pool play had been completed the tournament directors created championship brackets with the top 8 teams playing for first place. Coaches Roman Seguerre, Alan Go and Haley Walsh let the team know the goal for the morning was to win at least two out of three pool games and qualify for the championship bracket.
Pool Match #1: Acalanes vs San Francisco University – Dons win 2 sets to 0
Set #1: Dons win 25-12
The Dons got off to a fast start with Ellie Blanchard serving for seven points in a row and helping her own cause with a crazy save that nearly saw her crash into the scoring table. Emma Brewer kept the early rally going with a nice dig and contributed a kill later in the contest. The Dons early 8-1 lead was protected by Sela Sarbiewski and Valeria Toledo fiercely guarding the net and the set was ultimately put away when Grace Hayes served for 6 straight points including an ace.
Set #2: Dons win 25-17
The Dons kept things rolling in the second set with a well-rounded effort that saw nice passing from Audrey Martin and strong serving from Sela with 4 points and Maya Stafford with 6 points.
Pool Match #2: Acalanes vs Cardinal Newman – Dons win 2 sets to 0
Set #1: Dons win 25-21
After cruising to a win in the first match the Dons immediately returned to the court for the next contest but found themselves behind 8-17, prompting coach Roman to call time-out so the girls could regroup. His calming presence did the trick as Reese Westphal entered the game and showed off her laser-beam serve, rattling off 5 straight points including two aces and closing the gap to 14-17. This proved to be a momentum-driven game and it was soon Grace’s turn for heroics as she took her turn to serve with the Dons trailing 15-18. Grace promptly rattled off 8 straight points that included Sela breaking an 18-18 tie with a nice kill set up by Sydney Graves, who would go on to serve the set winning point.
Set #2: Dons win 25-19
The second set was another close contest that saw strong play from the right and left sides as Veronica Flint and Maggie Krackeler make several strong hits, including a kill from Maggie that tied the game at 7-7. Newman rallied to take an 11-7 lead, but Valeria provided a nice spark off the bench and the Dons rallied to tie the score 17-17. Maya entered the game and served for 4 consecutive points that provided some breathing room and the Don’s went to win the set 25-19.
Pool Match #3: Acalanes vs Justin Siena – Dons win 3 sets to 2
Set #1: Dons win 25-12
Some well earned rest, pizza and snacks were a welcome respite and the Dons came roaring into the first set of their final pool match. Veronica and Maggie continued to provide excellent play from the right and left sides, with Veronica pulling off a great bump save near the sideline and Maggie stuffing her opponent on the net early and late in the game. The Sydney’s sets to Ellie and Maggie fueled a dominant performance.
Set #2: Dons lose 11-25
Maybe you can have too much of a good thing as the Don’s took a little break to digest that pizza. They found themselves in a 4-10 hole early on and despite a great kill from Juliana Harhay that seemed to breath some life into the team, the score never got much closer in this contest.
Set #3: Dons win 15-6
A good thumping seemed to motivate the Dons as they came out swinging, or should we say serving in this final set. Ellie and Sela provided seven serving points between them with Veronica providing a kill that put the Dons up 7-1 and led the Justin Sienacoach to call time out. Brooke Rardin battled hard on the net to help protect the lead and Maggie’s kill put the Dons up 11-2 as they coasted to victory in what would not be the last of their three-set battles today.
Championship Bracket Match #1: Acalanes vs Windsor – Dons win 3 sets to 2
The Don’s three wins in the pool games earned them one of the two top seeds in the championship bracket with their first opponent being Windsor high school. The format was single-elimination so the pressure was on!
Set #1: Dons lose 15-25
A scheduling quirk resulted in the Dons having a two-hour break in the action after their win over Justin Siena whereas their Windsor team had just completed a bruising three set loss to Redwood high school. The set was close early on with the score tied 8-8 and Ellie providing a great save to keep an early rally going and Juliana provided a nice block to keep the score close, yet the momentum that seemed to propel the team in earlier matches didn’t materialize in this one, despite a great dig from Veronica with the Dons down 12-17. Windsor seemed to get stronger as the set progressed, closing out the set with 4 straight points.
Set #2: Dons win 25-21
The coaches huddled with the team and Roman provided one of his classic pep talks. There’s no yelling or sharp-directions in a coach Roman pep-talk, it’s all about calming and reminding the players that they’ve got the tools to win and should believe in themselves. It’s a wonderful approach that seems to really resonate with the team as the Don’s shook off their earlier drubbing and came out ready to play in the second set.
This would be a very close contest that saw the score tied on 8 occasions and the difference in score was never more than 3 points until the Dons ultimately went up 21-17 late in the match. Notable play included a strong block on the net from Sela, excellent serving from Grace and Sydney and a set from Maya that saw Elie tie the score 8-8 with a strong kill.
Set #3: Dons win 16-14
In a sign of things to come, the third set was a nail-biter. Ellie contributed 3 strong service points early and the Windsor coach called time out to regroup after Sydney’s stuff on the net left the Dons up 6-2. Any thoughts of Windsor fading away quickly vanished as the teams battled hard and saw the score tied at 10-10. Your correspondent may have gotten caught up in the action as there is a notable gap in his notes, but who can blame him with each team going tit-fot-tat, the score constant being tied and then one team going up by one, only to see the other tie it up again. The Dons had a match-point up 14-13 but, on script, Windsor tied it up 14-14. Maya’s slick hit into an empty area of the Windsor court broke the tie and the Dons went on to win 16-14. I confess to remembering that point and then not much else for a few minutes…
Championship Bracket Match #2: Acalanes vs Bishop O’Dowd – Dons win 3 sets to 2
Set #1: Dons win 25-21
With adults and teens alike realizing dinner at home was not happening and some wondering if they’d remembered to record Saturday Night Live, the Dons girded for the semi-final match against Bishop O’Dowd who had just defeated Carondelet in straight sets.
The Dons found themselves down 0-3 to start the contest but soon rallied back to tie the score behind a nice spike from Maggie and another great bump save from Veronica. The score was tied 10-10 when Bishop seemed to get the upper hand as they widened their lead to five points, with the Dons down 13-19 when Sela took her turn to serve. Things turned around from here as Sela rattled off 7 straight service points that saw the Dons take the lead 20-19. The team’s confidence was showing as Maya entered the game with the score tied 21-21. Maya’s first three serves resulted in points for the Dons, punctuated by Maggie’s huge stuff on the net with the Don’s up 22-21. Bishop called time out with the Dons up 24-21, but the Dons would not be iced as Maya wrapped up the set on her final serve.
Set #2: Dons lose 23-25
Brooke scored the first point of the set, helping the Dons get off to a 2-0 lead. The Dons kept the pressure on and led the game 13-7 helped by Maya’s six-point serving streak, but Bishop came roaring back with 5 straight points of their own, stopped when Elie provided a great block on the net. Juliana seemed to be involved in every point in this set, stuffing her opponent on the net early in the match and skillfully hitting sets from Sydney into the opponent’s empty corner on multiple occasions. Maggie broke an 18-18 tie with a nice kill – but again, Bishop came back and tied the score at 22-22 and ultimately forced a third set winning 25-23.
Set #3: Dons win 17-15
If set #3 against Winsor was a nail-biter, this set was a full-on heart attack. Coach Roman encouraged the girls to stay calm and believe in themselves and coach Alan reminded them to take it one point at a time, which proved prescient as this set was very much a point-for-point affair. Victoria drew first blood placing a ball in the corner. Neither team led by more than two points and the score was tied 13 times – think about that, the score was tied 13 times in a race to 15 points! There were no easy points for either team and the pressure was building as Sela tied the score at 12-12 with an impressive kill. Elie, Grace and Sydney were all over the court in this one and things got really tense when the Dons were down 13-14 with Bishop serving for the win. The Dons held on but found themselves in the same situation down 14-15 moments later. I’ll take a moment and admit my note taking broke down a bit as it was so exciting and every point went on for a long time, both teams were playing great volleyball and there were no easy points. I’ll also note that the girls handled the pressure really well, calming each other and themselves down, both on the court and from the bench – the warmth and encouragement amongst everyone was heart-warming to watch. Back to the game – the Dons withstood the 14-15 attack, tying it up at 15-15 and putting it away on the back of Grace’s two strong serves.
Championship Bracket Match #3 (AKA, the Finals): Acalanes vs Redwood – Dons lose 3 sets to 2
Set #1: Dons lose 13-25
After a very short break the Dons got back to work in the first set of the championship match. The Dons quickly fell behind 0-3 then 3-9 and got as close as 7-10 but that was as good as it got. This just wasn’t their set, so I’ll steal a quote from Forrest Gump and say, “That’s all I’ve got to say about that”.
Set #2: Dons win 26-24
Coach Roman gathered the team and reminded them they were in the finals. The finals! How cool is that?! Everyone started to loosen up and the drubbing of set #1 was in the rearview mirror, game on.
Sydney hit a ball into the corner for the set’s first point and Elie constantly made her presence known, as she’d done for the entire tournament, including big kills to put the Dons up 10-8 and 11-9. Redwood kept the pressure on and managed to take the lead 13-12 but then it was Sela’s turn to serve. As she’d done in set #1 against Bishop, Sela went on a tear, scoring 6 straight points including one diving save that brought a cheer of “Sela-libero” from coach Haley. Reese helped keep the momentum going with two big serves and that seemed to provide the some breathing room for the Dons as their lead grew to 23-16 and then 24-18, but it wouldn’t last. Redwood went on a tear of their own and didn’t let the set-point bother them as they kept chipping away, eventually tying the score at 24-24. Your correspondent may have blacked out here as he’s not sure how the Dons scored the final two points, but they managed to stop Redwood’s momentum and held on to win 26-24.
Set #3: Dons lose 14-16
I’m not sure what tops a heart-attack, but this set did, wow. The Don’s got off to fast start, putting the first 4 points on the board behind Ellie’s strong serving, including 2 aces. Redwood tied it up 4-4 but Sela served up three points including an ace to put the Don’s up 7-4. As always, Redwood battled back and the Don’s found themselves trailing 8-11. Reese breathed new life into the set with four straight points off serve including an ace and the teams were looking at 13-13 tie in the set that would determine the champion. Grace made an excellent serve for the match with the Dons up 14-13 but Redwood managed to get the point and went on to win 14-16. Wow.
Second place in their first tournament together was an incredible result and while the girls really wanted to win it all, they should be very proud of themselves. CONGRATULATONS DONS!
Elie was recognized as “all-tournament MVP for the Dons” by the tournament director in the final awards ceremony – congratulations Elie.
