Beyer volleyball earns spot in section semifinals, NorCals with thrilling four-set win over Escalon
When Beyer High volleyball coach Sara Gonzalez saw her team get flustered early in the first set of its Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinals match against fourth ranked Escalon, she had just one word for her team: relax.
“They put a lot of pressure on themselves, which is appropriate, but at the same time, it’s like they just have to be free and let it go,” she said. “It’s really important to just have a strong, strong mindset. Mental toughness is definitely the number one thing that we talked about.”
After dropping the first set, the fifth ranked Patriots stormed back to take the next three from the defending Division III section champions, winning in an exciting four sets, 19-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-22.
“I always believed in this team, it was always up to them about what they can do, but they have surpassed all my expectations and more,” Gonzalez said.
Seniors Fallon Freeman and Maya Gonzalez have seen a lot in their varsity careers. The pair of captains this season wrapped up their third straight undefeated league record and in their three full seasons after the pandemic, they won over 60 playoff games.
They also helped the Patriots qualify for the playoffs in 2021, 2022 and again this season. In their previous two seasons, they were swept in the first round. This season, they made up for that, winning their first two postseason contests.
“Our number one goal this year was to get past the first round and the fact that we got past the first two is amazing,” Maya Gonzalez said. “It’s already such a big victory for us and I think having the relationship we have on the court and off the court has really really helped us. We have a connection with every single person and it’s like a family and we’re able to all execute.”
Though they lost the first set, the Patriots were not overly concerned. They knew they just had to shake off their nerves. The position they were in after one set Thursday, was eerily similar to how they started their first round game against Oakdale. Down to the score.
“We lost 25-19, the same score as this set. It was just nervous jitters,” Sara Gonzalez said.
Beyer won each of the final three sets by five points or less. Both teams traded runs but when they needed to, the Patriots got a key kill, ace or block that gave them the momentum. After a 13-13 tie in the second set, Beyer outscored Escalon 12-7 to close it out. They jumped out to an early 7-1 lead in the second and never trailed. In a fourth set that had eight ties, a late 6-1 run gave the Patriots a 24-19 lead.
“We knew that our energy and our attitude is something that we could control,” Maya Gonzalez said. “We can’t control what’s happening on the other side of the net so we know that if we have the energy on our side, then we’re able to have that upper hand. We had the conversation before the game, the night before saying that this is our game and our attitudes are going to reflect that.”
The Beyer football team played its final regular season game Thursday night, but a bus-load of Beyer students and family traveled to Escalon, making for an electric atmosphere that at times felt like a Beyer High home game.
“It’s really nice that we got our Red Sea to come,” Freeman said. “We tried so hard to bring a bus full of people and it happened.
“The whole school was really happy that they were able to come. There was a football game today, but the majority of people want to come here. It feels really nice to have supporters and just have them cheering for us no matter what.”
Freeman got stronger as the match continued Thursday and was excellent when the team needed her the most. She tallied eight of her team-high 21 kills in the fourth set, including three straight to put the Patriots ahead 21-18. Setter Ella Gaylor finished with a team-high 43 assists and Reagan Davidson led the Patriots with 23 digs.
“After realizing that they were like Oakdale and that they play similar, we knew the spots we needed to hit like we knew how to clean it up,” she said. “We just had to execute and I think that’s what we did.”
With the win, the Patriots not only advanced to the section semifinals, where they travel to top seeded Christian Brothers on Oct. 31, they also secured a spot in the CIF Northern California Championship Tournament for what is believed to be the first time in school history.
“I’m so happy that they have been able to do that not only just for me, I’m more happy that they’ve done it for themselves,” Sara Gonzalez said. “Now they’re able to look back on this 20 years from now and be like, ‘Hey, I made Beyer program history.’ They’ll look back on it for the rest of their lives.”
End of the road for Escalon
The four-set loss marks the end of the season for three-time defending section champion Escalon.
Under first year varsity coach Shaylynn Beam, the Cougars finished 19-9 and finished second in the Trans Valley League with an 8-2 record.
The Cougars got out to a fast start, winning the first set. They opened the match on a 11-5 run which quickly increased to a 16-9 lead midway through the set. Beyer rallied to make it a 21-18 game, but Escalon closed the set on a 4-1 run to secure a 1-0 lead in the match.
Whenever the second, third and fourth sets were hanging in the balance, Escalon was unable to capitalize. Timely runs allowed Beyer to snatch any momentum from the home team.
“Looking at Beyer’s record coming in, obviously we knew it was going to be a challenge, we were ranked No. 4 and No. 5, so we knew it would be a fight,” Beam said. “Good job to Beyer, they handled it much better than we did tonight.
“They were loud, they brought their whole entire student section with them and we just couldn’t get it done in the end.”
Escalon graduates three seniors, but their impact will be missed. Outside hitter Sophia Martin led the team with 207 kills entering Thursday’s matchup and DS/Libero Macie Vickers and DS Kendra Gwartney finished first and third on the team in digs with 284 and 154, respectively. The Cougars had 14 players on their playoff roster and 11 will come back next season.
“I am hoping next year we have better results,” Beam said. “Our three graduating seniors are a really big part of our team, so we’ll definitely be missing them. But I’m already excited about next year.”
Local playoff scores
Volleyball
Folsom 3, Pitman 1
Central Catholic 3, Vista del Lago 2
Ripon 3, Hilmar 0
Ripon Christian 3, Hughson 0
Big Valley Christian 3, Buckingham Charter 0
Flag football
Ceres 34, Atwater 0
Escalon 14, Vista del Lago 13
This story was originally published October 27, 2023 at 12:08 PM.
