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Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009

CCC volleyball champ travels to Sacramento St. Francis today

Toni Muratore has played in enough big matches to know there's a fine line between being pumped up and too pumped up.

The Atwater coach thought her team had crossed it before last Thursday's second-round victory over Granite Bay.

At 3 p.m., fours hour before first serve, Muratore entered the gym to find her girls bouncing off the walls in anticipation.

Her fear was that they'd crash and burn before hitting a ball.

"I was like focus, focus," Muratore said, mimicking her own panicked tone.

"Please focus."

Atwater did, of course, eliminating Granite Bay with a four-game victory to clinch a berth in the semifinal round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II tournament.

"They're thrilled. On a high, literally," she said. "Every time we come into the gym, they're ready to work hard. Ready to climb that ladder. I don't think anyone is ready for the season to be over just yet. We're having too much fun."

Winning back-to-back playoff matches can have that effect, but now comes Atwater's toughest test this season: No. 2 St. Francis.

The two will meet tonight in the semifinal round at St. Francis, with the winner advancing to the finals on Thursday at UC Davis.

First serve is 7 p.m.

Muratore, an Atwater graduate and a former star at Santa Clara University, believes this is Atwater's deepest playoff run in years.

"I don't know the specifics. I know that it's been a while since an Atwater team has had this kind of success," she said before Monday's practice.

"We've had some really good success in making it to the playoffs, but it has been a while since the girls made it to a second- and third-round game."

To advance any farther, Atwater will have to topple one of the section's true giants. St. Francis has won nine section titles -- third-most in the section -- including the Division II crown in 2007. Its been to the last two Division II championship matches.

"They're that great team that everyone talks about," Muratore said. "I haven't seen them play, but what I've heard through the grapevine is that they have a 6-4 and 6-2 middle, and outsides 5-10 and above. We see that in our conference. Golden Valley is a tall team, too. What's different is that St. Francis has that volleyball edge. I'm sure all its girls play club."

It appears that way.

St. Francis is 34-6, ranked second by the section and first by MaxPreps.com.

They are big -- middleblockers Zoe Nightingale (358 kills) and Mary Clark (318 kills) are 6-4 and 6-1, respectively.

They are agile and scrappy -- four players average more than two digs per game, led by libero Chelsea Moore (316 digs, 2.8 per game).

And they rise to the occassion -- St. Francis is 19-3 against current playoff teams and its only losses are to Nevada Union (twice) and Oak Ridge.

Both schools are on a collision course in the Division I tournament.

"Don't count us out. Stranger things have happened before," Muratore warned. "Sparkles happen. Magic happens."

James Burns is sports editor of the Sun-Star. He can be reached at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.