SACRAMENTO — Top-seeded Ripon stumbled out of the gate Saturday, dropping the first two sets against No. 3 Christian Brothers before winning the third and dropping behind 0-3 in the fourth.
Enter Adriana Dorn for the Indians, who tied the fourth set at 3-3 with her first of five back-row kills in that set alone, with Ripon leading the rest of the way and into the fifth.
In the final set, after three ties, the Falcons closed out the match on a 10-3 run to claim the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III girls volleyball championship 26-24, 25-17, 20-25, 21-25, 15-8 at Cosumnes River College.
“Christian Brothers came out working harder than us,” Indians coach Gregory Soliz said. “They were diving to make plays, and we weren’t. We knew we had to out-work them to get back into it, and we did. We started to out-work them, getting every ball and diving for balls and that got us going.
“At the end of the day, the first two sets they worked harder than us, the next two and part of the last one we worked harder than them, but that fifth set is a crapshoot. That game to 15 can go either way. I am proud of the girls; they worked hard and those were some great games.”
Dorn finished with 30 kills — seven from the back row — along with 23 digs and two aces.
“I was just trying to swing high and stay aggressive,” Dorn said. “The back row is a little easier to swing higher, so I just trusted Alayna (Sprinkle) to get me a good ball, and she did, and it worked out.”
Jorie Eskes added 13 kills for Ripon (28-5), Ashlyn Moore nine kills and 23 digs and Sprinkle 45 assists and 34 digs.
Northwestern commit Simone Huarte finished with 29 kills, five blocks and two aces for Christian Brothers (19-15) with four kills an ace and a block in the pivotal fifth set. Teammate Isabella Alvarez added 21 digs.
“I think to today just showed the nature of the game,” Falcons coach Taylor Jacky said. “Anyone can take any set, but our girls stayed the course, stayed confident and played fearless, and that’s why the outcome went our way.
“Simone (Huarte) is amazing. She is the most selfless athlete in our program. She is incredible on and off the court. We are very lucky to have her.”
Had it not been for the tremendous defense of Dorn, Huarte would have had many more kills. In one sequence alone Dorn dug out three viscous spikes off the hand of Huarte.
Ripon next plays in the California Interscholastic Federation Northern Regional beginning Tuesday. The Indians are seeded 15th in Division II and travel to St. Francis (32-8) of Sacramento.
