Manteca aimed to set the tone early in its Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinal Thursday against 11th-seeded Hilmar, which just had swept No. 6 Beyer in a stunner just two nights prior.
The Buffaloes accomplished that and more, blasting out the gates for a 25-6, 25-16, 25-17 win that sends them to the semifinal round as well as the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Regional Championships.
Manteca (26-6) travels to second-seeded Christian Brothers (28-5) next Tuesday.
“I’m so proud of my girls,” Chandler said. “I think they played on fire tonight. They wanted it and it showed. They were awesome.”
Camrenne Genilla (three kills, six digs) served the first seven points of the match, ending the run with an ace before Hilmar (14-12) called a timeout. There was no slowing these stampeding Buffaloes, however. The gap widened to 20, 23-3, after Karlie Spohn (eight kills, four blocks) and Arielle Chandler (29 assists, four blocks, six digs) combined to block Alicia Souza.
Adrianna Powell (15 kills, six digs) then served one of her four aces for game point. Hilmar responded with back-to-back kills from Souza, which merely delayed the inevitable. Manteca wanted to avoid lapses with unforced errors after committing 12 in a set against Los Banos during the opening round.
Hilmar had to work for most of its points all match. The Buffaloes had just two miscues in the first set.
“We realized that in the tougher games we cannot have those mistakes because these teams will capitalize on it,” Powell said. “We just had to limit our mistakes, and we had so much energy.”
Powell provided much of the punch in the early going, putting away kills for three straight points that gave the Buffs a 16-2 lead in the first set. She later went on a seven-point service run.
Manteca carried the intensity into Game 2. In one stretch, three different Buffaloes — Spohn, Courtney Washburn (seven kills), Genilla — got kills for an 11-3 lead. Chandler caught the Yellowjackets flatfooted on a scoring dump that made it 23-9.
Hilmar eventually found its footing late in Game 2, notching seven of the final nine points. The Yellowjackets took their first and only lead of the match early in the third set, 5-4, after Sophia Alamo and Addy Garst stuffed Powell.
Manteca re-established control, and Abbey Kadillak (14 digs, five aces) scored an ace for a 17-10 advantage.
“They seem like a momentum team and I was getting worried,” Robin Chandler said. “I did not want them to get any momentum. They have some good players, for sure.”
It doesn’t get easier for the Buffaloes, who take on one of the most decorated programs in the Section. Christian Brothers coasted past No. 7 Nevada Union in its quarterfinal 25-12, 25-10, 25-17 and is gunning for its 11th SJS championship.
“I’m just glad to get through this one,” Chandler said. “One game at a time.”
Manteca, meanwhile, has yet to with a Section title and is a win away from returning to the final round since finishing as the Division II runner-up in 1989 and 1990. Powell said that the opportunity to make history helped motivated the team on Thursday.
“Just having the chance to make it to the third round, we’ve never made it his far since my sophomore year,” she said. “We just really wanted to win this match.”
