Sierra had to knock off three straight postseason qualifiers to capture a share of its second Valley Oak League championship the past two weeks.
Its reward?
A play-in match just to enter the loaded Division II bracket of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
The Timberwolves at least got to host it in front of a vibrant partisan crowd on Monday, rolling to a hard-earned 25-22, 25-22, 25-15 sweep of Golden Valley. They’re now officially in the playoffs as the No. 15 seed and will travel to second-seeded Rio Americano of Sacramento tonight.
Sierra’s postseason placement came as a surprise to coach Danielle Deerinck and her players, who were unaware that they were in Division II. The Timberwolves (19-10) thought they could get a seed as high as No. 6 in Division III, since that’s where they were slotted on MaxPreps all regular season.
“I told them not to worry about what division we’re in, because we got bumped from III to II last minute,” Deerinck said. “Don’t worry about what the seeding is. We just need to go in and play our best game and be happy with how we’re performing.”
Sierra believed itself to be peaking at the right time coming into the play-in, and it’s now on a four-match winning streak for the second time this season.
The Cougars (18-14) from Merced were the ones who came out swinging, however, staking a 13-6 lead. Sierra struggled in serve receive and didn’t have a single kill at that point, prompting Deerinck to call for a timeout.
The Timberwolves looked to their veteran senior outside hitter, Hannah Threet, to get them out of their rut. She crushed her team’s first kill of the night right out of the timeout, and junior standout Delicia Kivalu-Ahio later opened her account to close Sierra in, 16-12.
Danett Cesante served two straight aces to tie it at 18-19, and fellow setter Hannah Dungca fired an ace of her own to give Sierra its first lead of the match, 22-21.
Bella Lee’s scorching spike put the Timberwolves at set point, and it was Threet who fittingly iced it with an ace.
“We said in our huddle that we know what to do, we know we’re a good team, we have the right people and the skills to do it,” Threet said. “Minimizing errors, locking in and trusting each other was a big thing. I think our chemistry really connected after that, and then from there we did really good. We had some roller-coaster rides, but overall, I’m really proud of how we finished.”
Kivalu-Ahio led all players with 16 kills, two blocks, two aces and six digs. Threet finished with seven kills, 19 service points, three aces and six digs.
The recent emergence of Lee at middle hitter has been a boost for Sierra. A converted opposite hitter, the senior contributed six kills, a solo stuff and two aces.
“Last year, I put her in the middle for a game because our normal middle for missing, and I kept her there for a couple more,” Deerinck said. “I didn’t think she loved it, so she played opposite for us at the start of this season. Honestly, I don’t remember which game it was, but I was like, I need her there (in the middle).
