Hilmar, Golden Valley open volleyball playoffs Tuesday night

Patti Harris jokes that Sonora High School volleyball coach Kim Evans has stalked her team this season.

The Yellowjackets coach has seen Evans in the stands scouting Hilmar on more than one occasion.

“We laugh about it,” Harris said. “I’ll ask her, ‘Why are you here, Kim? What are you looking at?’”

Evans and Harris know there is a good chance their teams could meet once again in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship match at UC Davis. The playoffs begin Tuesday night with Sonora (29-5) as the top seed and Hilmar (35-8) seeded No. 2.

The trick for both coaches is to make sure their players are focused on each opponent and not looking down the road at a possible championship rematch to last year’s section final, won by Sonora 3-2.

“That’s what they foresee,” Harris said. “It’s the playoffs. Anything can happen, but they see the brackets and there is Sonora number one and Hilmar number two.”

While the Wildcats returned all their starters from last year’s team, Hilmar had to replace three. The Yellowjackets also had to replace outside hitter Riley Souza, who injured her knee midway through the season.

The Yellowjackets do have reigning Sun-Star Player of the Year Emily Baptista along with setter Haylee Pearce and middle blocker Whitney Williams.

“With Riley hurt, we have had to set Emily the ball more in the back row,” Harris said. “Brielle Balswick is our other outside hitter. She’s only 5-foot-4, but she’s been doing a good job, too.”

Hilmar opens at home against No. 15 Orestimba at 7 p.m.

Golden Valley (26-13) opens the Division II playoffs Tuesday night as the No. 9 seed against No. 8 Tracy, which finished in a three-way tie for the Tri-City Athletic League championship. The Cougars are back in the playoffs after a one-year absence.

“Outside of Belen (Castillo), Camille (Flores) and Gabriella (Flores), none of our girls have played in the playoffs,” Golden Valley coach Matt Thissen said. “Hopefully, we can handle our emotions, stay calm and breathe.”

With Castillo (6-3), Abbee Croninger (6-1) and Gabriella Flores (6-0), the Cougars will have a height advantage against Tracy (29-6), which doesn’t have a player taller than 5-11.

“Serving and ball control are always the first priority,” Thissen said. “Anytime you face a good offense, the more touches you can get at the net will help. We don’t need to get blocks necessarily but to get touches and slow the ball so we can make good passes in the back row.”

If the Cougars beat Tracy, they’ll likely travel to Roseville to face top-seeded Oakmont and UCLA-bound senior Kyra Rogers.

Los Banos and El Capitan will be in action. The Tigers (22-9) are the No. 8 seed in Division III and will be host to No. 9 Liberty Ranch of Galt at 6 p.m. The Gauchos (10-6) are seeded 13th in Division IV and will open at No. 4 Escalon at 7 p.m.

Division VI No. 2 seed Stone Ridge Christian (23-9) will be at home against No. 7 Tioga.

This story was originally published November 10, 2014 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Hilmar, Golden Valley open volleyball playoffs Tuesday night."