Two rivals faced off at Pitman High. One came away with the CCAL volleyball title

Monday’s Central California Athletic League volleyball game between rivals Pitman and Turlock had a lot going on.

The Pride were honoring five seniors on Senior Night and had a chance to win the CCAL championship with a win over the Bulldogs.

They started off slow but in the end, the Pride (22-11, 9-1) beat the Bulldogs (14-17, 6-4) in four sets, 24-26, 25-13, 25-16, 25-19.

Monday’s performance represented the roller coaster the Pride have experienced this year. They started the season 0-3 and lost their first CCAL game against Modesto in five sets before rebounding to win their last nine league games. Modesto (28-6, 8-2) finished in second in the CCAL and Turlock in third.

“We started the season a little rough,” Pride coach Kristen Pontes-Christian said. “The first loss to Modesto was rough but it motivated the girls. They knew they had to come out every match after that and beat every opponent.”

After the ceremony honoring the five seniors, Pitman gave a packed crowd and student section a lot to cheer about as they jumped out to a 14-8 lead. But errors ensued and became costly and junior Jazmyn Tubbs had three kills down the stretch as Turlock won the first set.

“Turlock is always tough no matter what,” Pontes-Christian said. “Maybe it was a lot going on (reason for slow start) and we needed to just focus on what we needed to be doing on our side.”

Pitman dominated the second and third sets behind the play of its five seniors: outside hitter Emily Vander Weide had 15 kills and 14 digs, outside hitter Cierra Verdone had 14 kills and 19 digs, middle blocker Avery Carlson had eight blocks, Emily Hirschkorn had two aces, and Madison King had a couple of blocks as well.

“They are the reason why we are doing what we are doing,” Pontes-Christian said. “There are five of them on the court that play all the time and they are figuring it out, leading, and controlling the game. They are huge in our wins.”

Carlson had most of her eight blocks in the fourth set and Verdone ended the match with a kill as students stormed the court to celebrate.

Sophomore captain Haley Freeman had 41 assists and sophomore Madison Hall had 25 digs for the Pride, who will open the playoffs next Monday.

“We are ready for it,” Pontes-Christian said. “We are going to look at it one set at a time and as we showed in the past in Pitman history, it doesn’t matter what seed you are, you can upset anyone.”

Pitman won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title in 2016 — its third straight title — as the four seed with a win over Turlock. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are the defending champion.

This story was originally published October 15, 2018 at 10:54 PM.