With both of his timeouts still available in the closing moments of Lathrop’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoff opener with visiting Sierra on Wednesday, coach Toa Fa’ali’i used them back-to-back with hopes of icing the server.
Sierra standout Owen Altadonna’s serve went long, and the seventh-seeded Spartans celebrated a wild 25-27, 25-21, 25-21, 21-25, 15-13 victory.
“I had sat the boys down after the first timeout, and I explained to them that when we go back onto the court, expect another timeout,” Fa’ali’i said. “That was the intent, and I’m happy it worked out.”
It was understandable why he took matters into his own hands after his team blew a 16-6 lead in the fourth set. Spearheaded by seniors Landon West (10 kills, seven blocks, eight digs) and Altadonna (14, kills, 14 blocks) No. 10 Timberwolves (19-13) rallied to tie it at 17-17 and took a 21-20 lead on Yatharth Katyal’s kill.
“I want to congratulate Sierra — amazing team, amazing players,” Fa’ali’i said. “They came to fight. I know they let everything out on the floor, and I applaud them for that. They’re very well coached.
“During that fourth set, I kept telling the boys we have to keep fighting, we have to keep fighting. We can’t just get a lead and sit on it and relax. Keep grinding. Volleyball is a momentum thing.”
Gabriel Fa’ali’i led the Spartans (25-8) with 21 kills, five blocks and five assists, but it was the production from the rest of their front-row players that helped give them the edge. Sophomore right-side hitter Meauta Miller added 11 kills and two blocks, and Marco Palomares pitched in with 10 kills and two blocks. Middles Marc Llorin (eight kills, block) and Gurmukh Singh (kill, four solo blocks, 10 service points) also had big moments. Setter Jorge Reyes racked up 34 assists, while contributing three kills on dumps.
Sierra jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the final set. Lathrop tied it at 9-9 on Gabriel Fa’ali’i tip, and he had two more equalizing kills. Palomares pounced on an overpass on serve receive for a kill and a 13-12 Lathrop lead, and Miller landed a scoring spike of his own for match point.
With Sierra setting up its blocks to try and neutralize Fa’ali’i, Lathrop’s coach directed the attack elsewhere.
“My right-side (hitter) came through,” Toa Fa’ali’i said. “I was trying to go at him because he’s the one (drawing) the smaller blocker. The two blockers on the left were too tall, so that’s why we sometimes mostly went to the right side. I’m glad he was ready for it.”
For Sierra, it was a fifth straight match decided in a fifth set. Last week, the T’wolves pulled out emotional wins over cross-town rivals Manteca and East Union on consecutive nights, and in the week prior they split non-league matches with Trans Valley League powers Ripon Christian and Ripon.
“We didn’t have a great practice yesterday,” Sierra coach Danielle Deerinck said. “Things were just off. We were missing people, and to have them missing before a big match is huge. And I think that carried into today.
“I just told them that they weren’t playing with any fight and we needed to turn it around, and I think they did that in the fourth set. We had a pretty good first set, but (Lathrop) is a great team that has some very strong hitters. I think it took us a little bit to adapt to that defensively.”
Sierra had several underclassmen contribute in their first postseason appearances. Setter Toan Do amassed 38 assists, 14 digs and two blocks. Libero Manolo Asuncion collected 38 digs. Thinh Huynh added eight kills, while Julio Vargas had six kills and four blocks. All four players are sophomores.
“We have sophomores in some really crucial positions, so I feel really good about that,” Deerinck said. “We’re going to need to fill some big shoes in the front row, so we’ll see what’s incoming. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
Lathrop’s future includes a trip to Yuba City. On Friday, the Spartans encounter second-seeded River Valley (28-7), which swept No. 15 El Camino (11-8), 25-16, 25-17, 25-20.
