Article - CIF Sac-Joaquin

St. Mary's outlasts Rocklin in D-I volleyball championship Jordan Georgeson Nov 12, 2024 9:49 AM For the second consecutive season, the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I girls volleyball championship match featured regional powerhouses Rocklin and St. Mary’s. Saturday’s championship match at Cosumnes River College marks the fourth time the two schools have met in a section championship game in various sports in the last year, and this time it was the Rams that came out on top in a five-set thriller 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-9). It was a back-and-forth match with neither side able to seize the momentum for longer than a few points, but in the fifth set the Rams were able to storm out to a 9-3 lead that would be too much for the top-seeded Thunder to overcome. Rocklin coach Bret Almazan-Cezar said that the girls were frustrated after falling to No. 3 St. Mary’s in the championship for the second consecutive year but noted that he was happy to see their frustration because it meant they were looking to improve. “They just try to get better every day. When you see the frustration, I know that means they're looking for answers,” Almazan-Cezar said. “Today, we had no answer for their offense and we had no answer for their defense. We haven't run into a defense like that all year.” St. Mary’s sophomore McKenna McIntosh was in control all match, attacking Rocklin both at the net and in the back row. McIntosh entered the match ranked seventh in the section in kills and she proved why, as the Thunder had no answer for her powerful attack. Rocklin showcased its high-powered offense as well, as Gianna Bogan tallied 17 kills and Addy Scheitlin and Rylee Heinz added 12 and 11 respectively. While the Thunder were able to attack, the Rams were stout on the defensive end and were able to dig the ball well all night. Of Rocklin’s 174 kill attempts, only 50 were successful. “We always tell them to hit it where they're not, and then we hit it where they're not and all of the sudden they're making these crazy plays. So I mean, what can you do? They were amazing props to them,” Almazan-Cezar said. “We were getting swings, we were passing well, we just weren't getting kills.” The Thunder also struggled with some uncharacteristic mistakes with 28 hitting errors and 10 serving errors in the match. Almazan-Cezar said that he didn’t think the team had any jitters playing in the championship match, but did say that he thinks the team took some time adjusting to playing in a different venue. “The venue was new and I think that threw some things off some of the kids, but they're fine,” Almazan-Cezar said. “They'll learn. We'll go watch the video and see what we could have done better.” St. Mary’s (27-6) drew the No. 7 seed in the CIF NorCal Open Division championships and it will face No. 2 St. Francis Wednesday night. Rocklin drew the eighth seed in the Open and will face No. 1 Branson on Wednesday