MODESTO — Ripon’s Eden Velasco toed the service line in the fourth set Thursday with a victory over top-seeded Sonora within reach. A Kylee Fullmer kill followed by a Wildcats miscue gave the No. 2 Indians match point.
Velasco rose to the occasion, drilling her serve to the back line where it fell to the floor for an ace, giving Ripon the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV girls volleyball title with a thrilling 26-24, 23-25, 26-24, 25-20 win over Sonora at Modesto Junior College.
“I was in the moment,” Velasco said. “I was really excited to be here and I really wanted to win, so I shot it deep and it landed right on the line.”
The Wildcats (26-6) were leading the first set 23-19 when they served the ball into the net. The Indians went on a 6-1 run behind an ace by Danika Matuska (five kills, six digs), a kill by Katherine Eskes (seven kills, seven blocks) and capped off with a resounding kill by Fullmer (eight kills). The Ripon team stormed the court and mobbed Fullmer, but there was still a lot of volleyball left.
“I was so excited,” Fullmer said. “I was kind of nervous but I trusted in our team.
“I knew I was going to get that kill.”
The Indians (22-10) let down in the second set, falling behind 6-0 and 12-5, but they still battled back to tie the score at 21-21 and 23-23 only for a Wildcats kill and a Ripon hitting error that gave Sonora its only win of the day.
The third set was extremely close with 14 ties – the last one at 24-24 – when Eskes and Adrian Dorn stepped up for the Indians. Referring to themselves as “the block party,” Dorn and Eskes lived up to that nickname when they soundly rejected an attempted Wildcats kill for a one-point Ripon lead. Sonora hit the ball wide on the next point for the 26-24 Indians win.
“We had been working on getting a block for a while,” Eskes said. “It felt amazing when we got it. We have a connection between the two of us.”
Dorn finished with five kills and six blocks.
“We had talked on the sidelines about getting blocks because we knew it would help us win the match,” Dorn said. “And it was really exciting to get it.”
Ripon coach Casey Kresge did her best to keep things positive and fun for her players.
“I am so happy right now,” Kresge said. “I am so proud of these girls. I told them before the game that proud is the word that comes to mind no matter what happens and now I am even more proud because they worked so hard to the finish and they never gave up.
“Every time there was a timeout I asked them if they were having fun. Sometimes we were a little bit down, so I told them to go out there and have fun. That was their motivation the whole time. Occasionally, we had some quick feedback for adjustments which was always positive.”
Avery McKiernan made eight kills for the Indians. Emeri Lane added 11 digs, Makenzie Loechler six blocks and Kailee Inderbitzin five digs. Kaya Whitaker dished out 21 assists and Reagan Wilkerson 20 with eight digs.
The brackets for the CIF State NorCal tournament will be announced this afternoon.
