HILMAR — After being handled by No. 1 Hilmar in the first two games Tuesday, fifth-seeded Ripon battled in the third set and challenged to win it.
The Yellowjackets came away with a 25-8, 25-16, 25-23 sweep in semifinal action of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs at Strom Gym. It’s their third win of the season against Trans-Valley League rival Ripon.
“I told them after the second game that this was it,” Indians coach Tyler White said. “We were either going to roll over and lose or attempt to take it to four. So, they decided to battle a little bit harder than they had in the first two games. They got a little more consistent but they weren’t consistent as a whole.
“We could have adjusted quicker to things because we knew what they were going to do because this was our third time seeing them. We should have made adjustments quicker but we didn’t.”
Unlike the first two games, the Yellowjackets (31-12) could not pull away in the third with the Indians (22-12) keeping the game within four points, tying it five times and leading twice by a point for their only leads of the night.
An ace by Ripon’s Shannon Johnson (seven digs) tied the third set at 23 only for Hilmar to get the next two points to end the night.
Mia Van Lewen led the Indians attack with 17 digs and 14 kills.
“Before the third game we talked and decided we didn’t have anything to lose,” Van Lewen said. “We were going to just come out and have fun and that mentality helped us.”
Ripon’s Brooke Kaiser added 10 digs, three aces and three kills. Rachel Sausedo chipped in 24 assists and nine digs, Sydney Thomason had four kills and two blocks, and Jordynn Russell (two kills) and Caryssa McKeon had four digs apiece.
The Hilmar attack was hitting on all cylinders with 40 kills to just 25 for the Indians.
“I just have a really great group of girls,” Yellowjackets coach Patti Harris said. “And all season long we have been playing hard and getting ready and we just dominated.”
Hilmar is a very young team but will advance to its sixth straight section final set for Saturday, 3 p.m. at Ripon High. The Yellowjackets will face No. 2 Colfax.
“I only have two seniors on the team and they are defensive specialists,” Harris said. “The rest of the team is made up of sophomores and juniors.”
Both the Yellowjackets and Ripon will compete in the CIF State Championships with opening-round action commencing next Tuesday. The brackets will be posted Sunday evening at cifstate.org.