Sierra’s quest to repeat as Valley Oak League champion began with a wake-up call on Monday.
Rival East Union, with two of its key players out, invaded the Timberwolves’ den and took the first two sets in surprising routs. Senior-laden Sierra rallied stay alive and was ultimately the dominant team at the end of its topsy-turvy 14-25, 16-25, 25-21, 25-15, 15-5 victory.
“We just kept saying that right now they’re wanting it more than us,” Sierra coach Danielle Deerinck said. “We don’t normally have slow starts but we did today, so that was a big adjustment for us. I kept telling them we have to wake up, they weren’t moving and were flat.
“They lit the fire inside themselves. When they have the energy, they’re unstoppable.”
The T’wolves (1-0, 9-3 overall) battled back with a well-rounded effort, getting at least five kills from five different players while tightening up defensively. Owen Altadonna led them with 10 kills and three blocks. Santino Flores fired nine kills, while Gurpreet Singh and Landon West each contributed six kills and four blocks.
Setter Primo Estandarte distributed 34 assists to go with six digs, three kills, 14 service points and three aces. Bonpatrick Estrella paced the back row with nine digs.
Yatharth Katyal provided a big spark off the bench, finishing with five kills, eight points and three aces. His first kill came during a crucial 6-0 run that gave Sierra a 24-17 lead in the third set. He then had a six-point service run that included two aces early in the fourth set, helping the Timberwolves open up a 10-4 cushion. Sierra did not trail the rest of the way.
“He’s a consistent server,” Deerinck said of Katyal. “He is not going to get aces all the time, but he’s reliable. We talk about having our ‘A’ servers, who get it in 95% of the time. He has an ‘A’ serve, and that’s what we needed, because we had a lot of missed serves in the first two sets.
“He also showed up ready to hit today. We have a lot of talent, but having him coming in with his energy, he was able to make a huge impact out there.”
Sierra totaled 20 service errors but struggled in every facet in the opening set. East Union (0-1, 3-6) led wire-to-wire and punctuated the game with Noah Holdren’s emphatic block of Altadonna.
The Timberwolves certainly helped EU with their lackluster play, but aside from three missed serves the Lancers had no unforced errors in game 1.
Estandarte was not surprised with how well East Union started the match, but was more surprised at how his team struggled to match its rival’s energy.
“To be honest, this season we’re expecting every team to be strong — everybody can play now,” he said. “The first two sets was a wake-up call for all of us. This was not us, because we started off very slow and had low energy. Next time we play them, or any of our league games, we just have to start strong and keep momentum on our side.”
East Union’s early burst carried over into the second game, with senior outside hitter Jai Aquino and sophomore setter Rodolfo Rocha leading the way.
“Moving forward, it’s all about consistency,” EU coach Sabrina Ballin said. “The first two sets is how we can play volleyball. Unforced errors will be the death of us. We just have to figure out how to maintain consistency and how to emulate games like those first two sets again. If we can figure that out, we’ll be pretty solid.”
Aquino tallied 12 kills, and Rocha racked up nine kills, 23 assists and two aces. Guadalupe Reyes also had nine kills.
East Union is looking forward to adding junior outside hitter Xavier Gaspar, whose sit-out period ends next week. He transferred from Sierra. The Lancers are also minus senior libero Cash Galvez, who may be out for the rest of the season with an injury. They have not fielded their complete team for a match this season, but Ballin is encouraged.
“Tonight is the first night we’ve had everybody besides Cash, and it shows we can do it,” she said.
East Union welcomes Oakdale on Wednesday for its first home match in two weeks, while Sierra seeks its fifth straight win at Kimball.
