‘This is 15 years in the making.’ Historic run for Stone Ridge ends with NorCal title.
Ken Shaw was still holding his new prized Northern California championship plaque almost 20 minutes after the match had ended. The Stone Ridge Christian High girls volleyball coach has worked a long time for the hardware.
“I gave it to my seniors for a minute but I got it back,” Shaw said. “This is 15 years in the making.”
The history-making season concluded on Tuesday night for the top-seeded Stone Ridge Christian girls volley team with a 25-13, 25-15, 25-18 sweep of No. 2 Forest Lake Christian to capture the NorCal Regional Division VI championship in front of a boisterous home crowd at the First Baptist Church gymnasium.
Ten days after winning the program’s first section championship, the Knights added a NorCal title.
“This means so much to us,” said SRC sophomore Maartje Vander Dussen, who finished with 14 kills and 21 digs. “This has been a year of firsts for us. We won our first section championship and now our first (NorCal) championship. This is great for Stone Ridge Christian.”
The score may look lopsided, but the Knights (32-6) had to work for their points with many long rallies. The Falcons took a set off SRC in the section title match and that’s the only set the Knights have lost in the postseason.
Playing the Falcons (26-7) a second time, Stone Ridge’s game plan was to keep the ball away from Forest Lake Christian libero Raegan Tanon.
“She’s a dynamite player and we wanted to avoid her,” Shaw said. “She’s such a gifted volleyball player. We had a plan of where we wanted to hit it.”
The Knights had to come from behind in the first set, trailing 14-10. Stone Ridge rallied back with the help of kills from Sophia Vander Dussen and Laura Hooker to pull even at 14-14.
The Knights pulled ahead 24-19 with the help of a block by Alyssa Vander Woude, a kill by Maartje Vander Duseen and an ace from Sydney Shaw.
The Falcons stormed back to cut the lead to 24-23. However, after an SRC timeout, Forest Lake’s Taylor Dunn served the ball into the net to give the Knights a one-game lead.
“We knew they were a solid team and we had to come out and give it our all,” said Sydney Shaw, who finished with eight kills and 12 assists. “The last time we played them it was neck-and-neck and this time it was the same.”
The Knights just kept unrelenting pressure on the Falcons the rest of the match, taking control of the final two games.
Senior Sadi Tucker added eight kills to go along with 18 digs. Hooker added three aces with her 18 digs. Brooke Wareham shared the setting duties and finished with 19 assists.
When Maartje Vander Dussen recorded the final point to clinch the title, the Knights players and coaches exploded off the bench as they celebrated at midcourt.
“This is the best way to end the season,” said Tucker, who is one of four seniors on the roster. “There’s nothing I would have changed. Every team I played on was different, but this one is my favorite. I’ve never felt so close to my teammates. We’re all best friends off the court. We’ve grown closer together as the season went on.”
Ken Shaw said he had so many people to thank to get the program to this point. He pointed to many of the former players’ names that hang on a banner in the gym.
His daughter Sydney used to come to games when she was little and now she’s a key contributor as a sophomore on this year’s history-making team.
“I can remember coming to games as a third grader and when my dad started coaching in 2004,” Sydney said. “To be a player now on the team is amazing. It’s crazy that our last game of the season is here. It was such a great season. It’s great to end it here in front of our crowd, our people with this atmosphere.”
This story was originally published November 13, 2018 at 10:05 PM.