Roundup: Hilmar volleyball falls in state title game. Merced boys x-country headed to state.

Hilmar coach Patti Harris said Saturday that every volleyball team, “even the best ones,” have games where they mentally shut down due to stress and pressure.

Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, that game came against San Luis Obispo in the CIF State Division IV Championship at Santiago College in Orange.

Hilmar, leading 2-1 in sets, needed one more to clinch the school’s first state championship. However, the Tigers rallied, and beat the Yellowackets 22-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-11, 15-9.

“I told them to keep their chin up,” Harris said by phone following the match. “They just need to be proud of what they have done and yes, we lost, but look at the good and don’t let the failure cloud the success.”

The first three sets were back and forth between the north and south’s No. 1 seeds.

“We came out super strong,” Harris said. “We did a great job of controlling everything. They (SLO) couldn’t reset.”

But, in the fourth set, everything changed.

Harris said the team “kind of shut down” and the pressure of playing in a championship got to the team.

After the Tigers easily won the fourth set, Hilmar trailed 10-5 and 12-8 in the fifth before the Tigers closed out the match.

“Volleyball is such a mental game,” Harris said. “We have a lot of young players (only two seniors) and I think it was just a lot going on for the team.”

Sophomore Mikela Labno had 21 kills while junior setter Emma Martins had 41 assists for the Yellowjackets.

Despite coming up short, this Hilmar team made history and next year can be even better with most of the team returning.

“They are very accomplished,” said Harris of her team that won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V title and NorCal Division IV crown. “I am so proud of them and they made history over and over again.”

Cross Country: Merced boys qualify for state

For the first time in the program’s history, the Merced High boys cross country team qualified for the CIF State Meet as a team with a third-place finish in the Division III race at the Sac-Joaquion Section Championships on Saturday in Folsom.

The Bears were led by Cole McKain, who finished third overall with a time of 16 minutes and 35.8 seconds. William Perez-Rios (17:21), Ben Livermore (17:26), Enriques Robles Ceja (17:34.4) and Jace Williams (19:10.7) all helped the Bears finish third.

Local individuals who qualified for state include Merced’s Quinn Hagerman (19:06), who finished second overall in the Division III race. In Division II, Clara Harman (19:52.6) qualified for Atwater an in Division III, Daniel Herrera (16:58.8) qualified for Pacheco.

Women’s Volleyball

College of Sequoias 3, Merced College 0 in Merced – The Lady Blue Devils lost in the NorCal Regional Play-in game on Saturday at home with a 25-16, 25-23, 25-23 to COS.

Men’s Water Polo

West Valley 12, Merced College 10 in Saratoga – The Blue Devils went 0-2 at the state championship tourament. Connor Norton led the Blue Devils with six goals and three steals in the third-place game against West Valley. Tristan Howard added two goals and two steals and Abraham Santana finished with four assists for MC.

The Blue Devils (27-8) lost 11-4 to Golden West in the state semifinals on Friday.