ORANGE — Ripon Christian’s Jordan Vander Veen is known for her power hitting, but her biggest play of the day Saturday in the Knights’ 25-19, 27-25, 25-17 sweep of Central Valley Christian for the CIF Division IV Girls State Volleyball Championship at Santiago Canyon College may well have been a defensive masterpiece.
“I thought that Megan (Weststeyn) made a really good touch, and I didn’t want to let her down,” Vander Veen said. “I think if that ball would have dropped it would have given them the momentum back.
“With every kill, I gain more confidence and that helps me get me into a rhythm.”
With the second set tied at 25-25 and momentum leaning toward Central Valley Christian, it seemed as if the Knights had shot themselves in the foot when an attempted Ripon Christian kill sailed long. The Cavaliers were ruled to have been in the net on the play giving the Knights set point for Sydney Hoffman (six kills, three blocks) to put it away with a kill.
“We will take whatever we could take at that point,” Ripon Christian coach Kayla Kootstra said. “Both teams were battling so hard that sometimes when you have a play like that it can be a big play.
“For CVC to battle that hard in the second set and lose, it is hard to battle back from. Our girls took advantage of that and we were able to come out strong in the third set.”
Known for having to repeatedly battle back to scratch out wins, the Knights (35-6) took a 13-3 lead in the third set.
“That second set was back and forth, back and forth, and I think our ability to pull out a tight-game win maybe took the wind out of their sails a little bit and we came out strong in the third set and took that to the end of the game,” Kootstra said. “I am proud of the girls of how we came back when we were down.
“Serving has been a strong point of our game all season. We were able to get some great service runs with some tough serves. Our consistency serve helped us get here and it helped us win the match today.”
It was the pinpoint serving of Leah Van Wyngarden (10 digs, five aces) that helped Ripon Christian to the 13-3 third-set lead with an 11-point run behind three aces. She also had a five-point run behind an ace in the first set to take the Knights to set point. That run was part of a 14-1 run highlighted by y McMurray’s nine-point service run with an ace.
“We usually start every match off really slow,” Van Wyngarden said. “I told myself in the third set we had to start stronger and get a big lead so we could do better for the rest of the set.
“In that first set we had been down and there was not a lot of game left so I needed to help us keep the momentum.”
Megan Weststeyn dished out 27 assists for Ripon Christian and even snuck a kill in.
“The passes were really on this game,” Weststeyn said. “And it was really easy to set the hitters up.
“I am ready, and I am excited for next season.”
Weststeyn, Vander Veen, Van Wyngarden and Hoffman are all juniors. Senior McMurray was grateful she could go out with a championship.
“A couple of weeks ago I was really struggling on defense,” McMurray said. “And I knew today I really needed to push and find that defense again.
“It feels good to go out with a bang. It is the best feeling especially with this group of seniors.”
Fellow senior Ava Van Groningen added 10 digs and two blocks.
While the Knights never trailed in the third set, they were behind 11-4 in the first set and 10-3 in the second.
“In every single one of our NorCal matches we have played from down quite a bit and have had to battle back to win,” Kootstra said. “Whether we were down sets or big amounts of points. Being down was not a situation we were unfamiliar with.
“I was proud of the way our girls battled for every point. We were able to execute when we needed to.”
Last season, Ripon Christian was knocked out of the state playoffs by eventual champion U-Prep of Redding.
“We just wanted to play the best volleyball we were capable of playing,” Kootstra said. “We knew if we did that, we could make a run pretty deep into the playoffs. Getting past the point we got to last year was always our goal, we have new players and a new team and being able to come out with the state title is pretty awesome and pretty impressive.”
Saturday’s win was a full-circle win for Kootstra and assistant coach Melissa Blanco. Both were on the Knights team in 1999 when they won the state title. Ripon Christian improved to 2-0 in state finals, while Central Valley Christian fell to 0-3. The two teams previously met in a season opener back in August, with host Ripon Christian winning in three.
“I will be honest,” Kootstra said. “I don’t remember much about the state title as a player.
“I think it is almost more fulfilling as a coach to see the players develop. Doing this as a player and a coach is kind of special, but it comes down to this group of girls and what they were able to accomplish this year.”
