RIPON — Ripon prepared for Hilmar’s Emily Bapitsta, but there was no stopping the 6-foot-2 standout Monday.
Baptista, heading to the University of the Pacific, capped the Yellowjackets’ 33rd straight Trans-Valley League victory with her 24th kill, squashing Ripon’s chances of earning at least a share of the title. Game scores were 25-16, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21.
“She’s very dynamic — quick approach, quick arm swing,” Ripon coach Adrienne Beltrami said. “I felt that we were having a hard time getting our timing down on our blocks. We started to toward the end, but I always tell my girls you have one set to get your timing down. You can’t wait until the third or fourth set.”
The Indians, now 7-3 with two matches left in the TVL, were climbing uphill throughout on their senior night. They trailed 1-6, 2-8, and 1-5 early in each of the sets Hilmar won and much of it was due to self-inflicted miscues.
“Early on we made some unforced errors that hurt us, and when you do things like that against teams like this they’re going to capitalize,” Beltrami said. “And when they make unforced errors we need to capitalize. We did that sporadically throughout the match but we need to maintain a high energy level, which is hard to do. I feel that was the difference tonight. A little more energy and a little more communication and we could have been more competitive.”
Ripon proved capable of keeping up with Hilmar (10-0, 31-6) in short spurts. In Game 2, the Indians limited their mistakes and improved on their serve receives to get hitters like Sam McCreath (15 kills) going. They didn’t trail after a Hilmar net violation gave Ripon a 17-16 lead, and McCreath iced the set with a scoring spike.
Ripon couldn’t recover from an early six-point service run from Hannah Pearce (34 assists, seven aces) in the third game and didn’t hold a lead for the remainder of the match. Top contributors for Ripon included Lauren Weibe (two aces), Makayla Buie (four blocks) and Ashlyn Eisenga (27 digs). The Indians were without 5-11 middle blocker Courtney Slamon, who is nursing a shoulder injury.
“Obviously Hilmar is a strong team and they have the records and the backing behind them to have the confidence to go against other good teams,” Beltrami said. “I felt after beating Escalon that was a good step forward for us to push through that hump and I felt good coming into tonight. We’ve had good practices and mental prep, but to push over that edge we need to have a little more energy.”
Hilmar can clinch a third consecutive outright TVL title with a win against Modesto Christian on Wednesday. With a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berth already wrapped up, Ripon closes the regular season at Riverbank on Wednesday and at Mountain House next Monday, Nov. 2.
