The Northern California volleyball crown will remain residing in Hilmar for another year, as the Yellowjackets defended their championship Tuesday evening with a four-set victory (25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 25-23) over Colusa in the regional final of the CIF State Division V Tournament.
No. 2 Hilmar won the first two sets in convincing fashion before dropping a third set to the No. 4 Red Hawks that saw nine ties and the lead change hands four times. Colusa, which pulled off a reverse sweep of top-seeded Sutter on Saturday, then pulled away 23-19 in the fourth, prompting many folks in attendance to anxiously wonder if another upset was brewing. Senior Emma Gomes, like many of her teammates, had different thoughts.
“I was still thinking that we were ahead,” Gomes said. “We're up 2-1 (in the game), so we're still ahead in the long run, and they’re still worried about trying to beat us because we just need to win one set. We had the advantage. I believed in us, and I felt like we believed in each other. There was no doubt.”
A Colusa serving error — their 10th of the game — to go along with an ace from senior setter Stella Pires and a kill from junior hitter Emily Barroso set the stage for a set-tying block from Gomes. The 6-foot-3 Barroso further took matters into her own hands, taking advantage of an off-balance and tired Colusa defense for a pair of tip kills to end the match. The final kill came on a back-and-forth sequence, set up by an assist from senior Stella Pires.
“I was really nervous when I saw Stella setting that ball for me (when the match was tied 23-23),” admitted Barroso. “But I realized the game was too close and we needed that point. I knew I really had to come through.
“When we were down, the thought was to remind ourselves that we're trying to play for state right now, and we need to start acting like it,” Barroso added. “We need to start acting like we're trying to play for a medal and go to LA again for two years in a row. We all want that banner, and so we got into our huddle and just got it together.”
Added senior libero Lia Salvador: “ I literally imagined us running to the middle of the court and tackling each other after just like last year. That picture of us last year was just so clear in my mind. We needed it again. It just needed to happen.”
The white banner marked the third regional title in the program’s long history. The Lady ‘Jackets were also regional champions in 2018 and 2024.
As Barroso alluded to, the win and the commemorative pennant comes with a trip to Orange County on Friday, where the team, now 26-16 overall, will play for the first CIF State volleyball title in school history. They will take on Southern California champion Elsinore (17-17) at 4 p.m. at Santiago Canyon College.
In the state title games in 2018 and 2024, the Yellowjackets were on the wrong end of reverse sweeps.
The state stage was uncharted territory for all the players last season, but with nine returners, junior hitter Reese Ahlem believes that the program will come in much more prepared.
“Nobody is going to give you a set. Nothing is given,” Ahlem said. “I remember last year, we won the first two sets, and then in the third we were down by like five points, we went on a huge serving run, and then just let up. We thought (South Pasadena) was out and giving up, but no. At this level in the state tournament, all teams are good and everybody wants it.”
Ahlem and senior outside hitter Alyssa Colston set the tone early, with Colston recording her first of three kills in the first set following Colusa’s opening serve of the game. Ahlem added four kills in the frame. Tied at 22, Pires then had a tip kill, which she followed with an ace. A misfire out of bounds by the Red Hawks sent the game to the second set, which was dominated by freshman hitter Johanna Lawler.
It was a roller-coaster of a week for Lawler, who sat out the last two sets of Saturday’s semifinal against Escalon following a tough sequence of out-of-bounds and net hits. Upon learning she’d be back in the starting rotation Tuesday, she was motivated to bounce back.
After her second kill of the set put the ‘Jackets up 15-13, Lawler strung together four aces as they built a 22-13 lead. The set ended on a throw infraction by the Red Hawks. Lawler finished the match with six kills, six aces and three blocks.
“I came into this game with much stronger intentions, really wanting to drive power to the ball,” Lawler explained. “Since I did get this opportunity, I feel like I really took advantage of it.”
In the frantic third set, the Red Hawks took advantage of Hilmar’s five hits out of bounds and three hits into the net, as well as four tips falling in between Yellowjackets defenders. After the “wake-up call” of a talk given by head coach Patti Harris in between sets, as Salvador described it, six Yellowjackets — Ahlem, Colston, Gomes, Lawler, Pires and Barroso — combined for 16 points, while each having at least three scores.
Pires assisted on the team’s last five points, bringing her game total to 28 to go along with two kills, three aces, two blocks and 14 digs. Ahlem had 11 kills and two blocks, while Barroso had seven kills and two blocks. Gomes added eight kills, two aces and a block.
“We have to turn it up after we fall behind in those situations,” said Colston, who totaled eight kills Tuesday. “We knew we had a strong chance to go far again at the beginning of the year…. We are a small school, but we have so many good volleyball players, so we feel like we always have an advantage. And once we get into the Northern California playoffs, we kind of turn into two different teams.”
Hilmar’s consecutive regional championships each came after the Yellowjackets fell short of the Trans-Valley League title and were eliminated in the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals.
“All season long, these girls were playing a really tough schedule,” Harris said. “We played hard teams all the way through. We're in one of the toughest leagues in the TVL, and we just played great teams around us, from the tough tournaments in Reno (High Sierra), the SLO (San Luis Obispo to Stockton. That’s our thing, we try to get better by playing great teams. Playing great teams makes better teams. And the girls love the challenge. It’s great fun to be around and I’m so, so proud of them”
