Top-seeded Ripon Christian was in full control Tuesday night after a dominant opening set and springboarded to a 7-1 lead in the second against No. 4 Bear River.
Knights coach Kayla Koostra warned her team against letting their guard down in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V semifinal, and for good reason. The Bruins from Grass Valley eventually raised their level while capitalizing on a run of Ripon Christian miscues, causing some nervous moments for the reigning champion.
In the end, Pacific commit Emily Van Groningen and the Knights rediscovered their groove to lock up a 25-14, 23-25, 25-17, 25-19 win and a second straight appearance in the Section title round. They’ll face No. 3 Vacaville Christian (21-2) on Saturday at a neutral site yet to be determined. Vacaville Christian swept second-seeded Bret Harte, 25-15, 25-18, 25-16 in the other final.
“We knew coming in that they’re a strong team,” Kootstra said. “They did some really good things. After the first set I told the girls that they came a long way, so we can’t use that first game as an indicator.”
That 7-1 lead in Game 2 quickly evaporated. Ripon Christian (34-5) went on to commit 17 unforced errors. Three straight errors — a double touch, miss hit and net violation — led to Bear River take its first lead of the match, 12-11. That was in the middle of a seven-point service run for Kaylee Vieira.
The last of the unforced errors in the set was another ball-handling violation that gave Bear River (28-10) the clinching point.
“Sometimes we wallow in our mistakes instead of moving,” Kootstra said. “I felt like for a while there we got kind of stuck in the muck of what we were doing wrong instead of focusing on the next point and getting it right. Once we finally started to do that even toward the end of the second game we were able to make a little bit of a run. We were able to get some momentum back even though we lost the second set and that really helped.”
The Bruins, to their credit, improved on all facets of their game and made Ripon Christian earn much of its points the rest of the way. The Pioneer Valley League champs shot out to an 11-7 lead, getting two kills from Lauren Richert and an ace from Vieira for the final three points. Liah Fuller’s block gave Bear River its largest lead of the match at 14-9.
“We weren’t serving or passing the ball very well and we knew we had to do that at a high level to win,” Bear River coach Matthew MacDonald said. “I think in Game 2 and for part of Game 3, we served tough, we passed pretty well and we ran the system. We got a couple blocks to calm us down against some really good hitters on the other side of the net.”
The back half of the third game belonged to Ripon Christian, which recaptured the lead, 15-14, thanks to an ace from Kristen Van Elderen.
Olivia Ozenbaugh, Jenna Hoffman (44 assists) and Ava Van Groningen (15 kills) each came up with key kills that helped keep Ripon Christian rolling. The Knights scored the final six points of the set with Emily Van Groningen serving the final five. Ava Van Groningen knocked down an overpass for the clincher.
The last set was competitive throughout, though Ripon Christian never trailed. It was 18-15 before the Knights broke away. Emily Van Groningen clobbered her team-high 20th kill for the winning point. She also finished with four aces. Taylor Postma added four blocks, and Leah Van Wyngarden led the defense with 25 digs.
“We didn’t have enough firepower tonight, but that’s a really good team,” MacDonald said. His team will next compete in the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Regional. “Facing that competition and making some adjustments on the fly was a really good experience for these kids.
“We’re young in a couple of key positions so I think for our kids to get exposed to that tonight was amazing. Hopefully we can take that into the state tournament.”
Meanwhile, Ripon Christian will vie for its 17th SJS title in program history but will take on a team it is unfamiliar with.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Kootstra said. “The girls set some goals at the beginning of the season and then we had some (adversity) toward the middle that could have derailed us. I’m just really proud of the different players who have really stepped up. We really came together as a team to make it this far.”
DIVISION IV
Sonora 3, Ripon 0
The No. 3 Indians (22-10) were swept by the second-seeded Wildcats (22-1), 19-25, 18-25, 24-26. Sonora plays No. 1 Escalon for the title on Saturday.
Ripon has qualified for the CIF NorCal Regional which begins next Tuesday, Nov. 9. Brackets will be released Sunday night.
