With the fifth set tied 12-12 Thursday night, Sierra’s Stella Brierly got two of the next three points on aces to lead the Timberwolves to a thrilling 17-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-10, 15-12 Valley Oak League volleyball win over visiting Weston Ranch.
Both teams had problems chasing momentum all night with multiple unforced errors.
“Our girls just have to dig deep and remember the basics of volleyball,” Sierra coach Eryn Bowers said. “The fact is, we forget to communicate sometimes and we have to communicate every time — bump, set, spike, always stick to the basics.
“We have been working hard on our serving at practice, trying to fix the missing pieces to make us successful on the court.”
Brierly dominated net play, banging 20 kills with four aces.
“Tonight was a really good game,” Brierly said. “We played really well together and we really went all out.
“I am excited that we had such a good game on senior night.”
Natalie Dias added 10 kills for the Timberwolves (2-8 VOL, 6-7 overall).
“Sometimes tonight we put our heads down,” Dias said. “But we did keep our heads up.
“We had really good defense and Becca (Thomson) was an amazing setter and that’s what kept us in the game.”
Thomson tallied 38 assists and three kills, and with her outstanding jump serve had five aces and three service runs of five points or better. Ashlee Matteroli added five kills and two aces for Sierra, Kylie Machado had three aces and Jenna Villanueva three kills.
Prior to the final three-point run for the Timberwolves, the fifth set was tied seven times.
“It was going back and forth for a long time,” Weston Ranch coach Nayeli Moreno said. “That team wanted it a little more than our girls, and we had a lot of mistakes tonight.”
Julianna Lassiter led the Cougars (0-10, 3-16) with 10 digs, four kills, two assists and two aces. Cheyenne Lewis added seven kills and four aces, Valeria Aguila had three assists, and Janelle Ico made four kills, an ace and two digs.

Junior varsity
Sierra 2, Weston Ranch 1
Leilani Fabian nailed an ace for the Timberwolves on match point for a thrilling 25-19, 20-25, 15-11 win.
Erica Tovar had five aces and five kills for the Timberwolves. Fabian, Chisom Okolo and Faythe Rullan had two kills each, Elaina Threet added two aces and three kills and Jenna Dalen had 15 assists.
Siyah Grigsby made eight blocks and three kills for the Cougars. Lailah Remo added five aces and two kills and Katalina Velasco had 10 assists.

Freshman
Weston Ranch 2, Sierra 0
Nina Montes and had four kills apiece in a 20-25, 20-25 loss.
Sierra’s Rebecca Sutton added 10 assists and Kim Vega had three digs.