Sierra’s Ole Schmidt came up with three consecutive kills in the middle of the fifth set Friday night to lead Sierra to a thrilling 23-25, 25-21, 26-24, 20-25, 16-14 win over visiting Ripon in non-league boys volleyball action.
The fifth set was tied five times, the last one at 14-14 thanks to back-to-back kills by the Indians’ Trent Olmo. The Timberwolves closed out the night with a Gonzalo Pachalian kill to break the tie and a kill by setter Toan Do to end the night.
Schmidt finished with 26 kills.
“I try to hit high,” Schmidt said. “Especially against a big block like this.
“I try to hit their hands.”
With Schmidt handling the front row, Manola Asuncion patrolled the back for Sierra (14-8) with 20 digs.
“I was only able to get the digs because my team provided good blocks,” Asuncion said. And we had really good communication around the court.
“I could not have got those digs by myself.”
Do dished out 49 assists, Thinh Huynh added 15 kills and Ayden Bryant chipped in three blocks.
“I feel like we have been having a lot of up-and-down kind of games toward the end of the season,” Sierra coach Danielle Deerinck said. “And that is not great going into playoffs.
“But they worked through it, and when it came down to it, they won the sets that mattered.”
Despite being down a player, Ripon (13-13) stayed competitive the whole night.
“We are missing a key player, our setter,” Indians coach Tara Maruyama said. “But I am super proud, because Sierra is a very good team with some really good players, and we did very well with what we had.
“Our momentum started slow, and we picked it up and did a great job, but we just fell a little short.”
Filling in at setter, Colt Isham tallied 57 assists. Gavin Garner (16 kills, 12 digs, six blocks), Trent Olmo (14 kills, five blocks), Armando Ayan (16 kills) and Jacob Dood (11 kills) rounded out the Ripon attack.
Monday night at 6 the Indians host Ripon Christian in Trans-Valley League play and Sierra travels to Patterson for a Valley Oak League match.
Junior varsity
Sierra 2, Ripon 0
Matthew Thomas and Navraj Singh tallied six kills apiece for the Timberwolves.
Sierra’s Osasu Oviawe added five kills and three digs while Kushal Tammineni dished out 16 assists.
