Roundup: Le Grand, Hilmar bounce back from tough losses to keep season alive.
.JPG "Le Grand’s Alexis Aguallo (21) and Priscilla Barnett (13) celebrate with the rest of their volleyball teammates after scoring the final point in a 3-1 win over Urban of San Francisco in a Northern California Regional Playoff match on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019 at Le Grand High.")
Most of the Le Grand High girls volleyball players haven’t gotten over last week’s five-set loss to Ripon Christian in the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals.
The pain intensified on Saturday when they heard the Knights swept Colfax to win the section championship.
The Bulldogs knew it could have been them.
“That’s all we talked about in our group chat,” said junior Alexa Ultreras. “It’s our rivals. To lose that game was horrible. The day after we were so sad. Everyone of the players was down the whole day.”
.JPG "MER_LGVolley2 (2).JPG")
The funk may have carried over into Tuesday’s Northern California Regional Division V first-round match against Urban of San Francisco. The No. 8 seeded Bulldogs looked out of it in the opening game.
Le Grand regrouped and extended their season for at least one more match with a 20-25, 25-12, 25-13, 25-23 win over the Blues at Le Grand High.
“I told them right before the match that I’m finally ready to let that (Ripon Christian) match go,” said Le Grand coach Gia Pridell. “All my players looked at me. That was extremely hard and then on Saturday when they won, we knew it could have been us.”
The Bulldogs (23-5) are looking at the NorCal playoffs as a new life. It just took a while to get going.
.JPG "MER_LGVolley3 (2).JPG")
“I told the seniors this is the last time you’re ever going to play a home game at Le Grand,” Pridell said. “How do you want to go down?”
The Bulldogs responded as they picked up their energy level, started communicating on defense and raised their level of play.
Sophomore Priscilla Barnett led the way with 13 kills and eight blocks. Ultreras added 12 kills, two blocks and three aces.
After breezing through games two and three, the Bulldogs had to fight to hold off Urban in the fourth game.
Le Grand will travel to Watsonville on Thursday for a second-round match with top seed Mt. Madonna, which swept Oakland Tech 3-0 on Tuesday.
“It’s great because for our seniors this potentially could have been their last game,” Ultreras said. “As a junior, I’m glad we get to keep playing.”
Hilmar 3, Rio Americano 0 in Hilmar — Hilmar also had to bounce back from a tough five-set loss in the semifinals. The Yellowjackets lost to No. 1 seed Nevada Union last week.
The No. 7 seeded Yellowjackets were led by Olivia Peterson, who finished with 18 kills. Teammate Emma Martin finished with 30 assists and Julia Gonsalves added 28 digs.
Hilmar will face No. 2 Burlingame in the second round on Thursday.