It pays to pace yourself. The visiting Oakdale girls volleyball team found that out the hard way Wednesday night as Sierra bounced back from a 22-25 first-set loss and went on to take three of the next four 25-23, 25-13, 24-26, 15-9 to wrap up a portion of the Valley Oak League championship with crosstown rival Manteca.

After losing the first set the Timberwolves (10-2 VOL, 18-10 overall) found themselves trailing 10-18 in the second set when Hannah Threet toed the service line for Sierra trailing 11-18. Threet (14 service points, 12 digs, eight kills, five aces) reeled off six service points behind an ace to narrow the gap to 17-18 as part of a 13-5 run to end that set and the Mustangs (6-6, 17-15) were outscored 79-56 the rest of the way.

“This is my last league game at home,” Threet said. “So, I wanted to help my team as much as possible.

The Timberwolves allowed Oakdale to force a fifth set due to a number of miscues down the stretch in the fourth set, but Delicia Kivalu-Ahio (22 kills, 12 service points, eight digs) put an end to the Sierra skid by leading the Timberwolves to a 9-1 lead in the final set behind five kills including three in a row.

“I think we really picked up the momentum toward the end,” Kivalu-Ahio said. “We really wanted to win this because now we are VOL champions.

“So, we had the motivation to push. I think we could have done it from the start, but this way we got to play more volleyball.”

Sierra’s Jadelyn Dole posted 14 digs.

“When I play defense, I try and stay calm.” Dole said. “My team really relies on me and we have each other’s backs.”

Hannah Dungca (16 digs, 24 assists), Kaylee Rodriguez (13 service points, six digs), Danett Cesante (12 service points, three aces) and Luna Lopez (10 assists, four kills) rounded out the Timberwolves attack.

Winning the VOL has been a long-time goal for Sierra coach Danielle Deerinck.

“Sierra last won the VOL in 2022, one year before I started here,” Deerinck said. “This is very exciting, and it was one of the goals we talked about at the beginning of the season and one of my goals as a coach was to win a VOL title in my first five years of coaching.”

“Tonight was a roller coaster, and I feel like we have been on a roller coaster all season with a lot of five-set matches. But that prepares us for games like this.”

The Sac-Joaquin Section playoff brackets will be announced Friday with the first games on Tuesday.