‘Quite a ride’: How Hilmar volleyball swept Elsinore for first CIF state championship
On Friday, Nov. 21, the Hilmar High volleyball team found itself in a familiar situation: Back in the state championship match with a 2-0 lead.
To understand the significance of this year’s run, which included 27 wins, a CIF Northern California Division V championship and a trip to Santiago Canyon College in Orange for the D-V state title, it is important to look at last season.
The Yellowjackets finished 30-10 last year, and despite being eliminated in the Sac-Joaquin Section semifinals, they ran through the Division IV Northern California bracket, sweeping two teams and dropping just two sets in four matches to earn a spot in the state championship against South Pasadena. In the state title game, they got up 2-0 but fell in the final three sets and ultimately finished as the runner-up.
That motivated the Yellowjackets this season, and their road through the playoffs in Division V in 2025 was a carbon copy of their 2024, D-IV postseason: semifinals loss, four wins, two sweeps and just two sets dropped on the way to a NorCal title and a state championship berth.
A handful of players returned from last year’s team and more key contributors were added.
So now, there they were, up 2-0, itching for the first volleyball state championship in school history (the Yellowjackets were 0-2 in their prior appearances).
“It’s always nice to be up 2-0,” Hilmar head coach Patti Harris said. “But this is girls volleyball and the game is never over till it’s over. So we just told them to keep the pressure on, keep pushing forward.”
The Yellowjackets swept the Tigers, 26-24, 25-16, 25-19 in front of a cheering crowd that included friends and family members who made the trip for the weekend.
“Honestly, I don’t think it’s really sunk in,” Harris said.
Celebrations for the champs
The Hilmar players celebrated a few ways right after winning a state championship in Orange. Some went to Disneyland, others went to Universal Studios, and some just saw the sights Southern California has to offer. Harris, on the other hand, celebrated a few days later, taking a trip to watch the San Francisco 49ers play the Carolina Panthers on Monday night.
What’s even better is Hilmar gets a week off for Thanksgiving break, so the Yellowjackets did not have to return for school on Monday. They were free to bask in a week of state championship glory.
“It turned into a family vacation for some of the players,” Harris said. “It’s a happy time. It was just great.”
Harris said the tough regular season schedule was all for this moment. They played in tough preseason tournaments, going up against schools like Rocky Mountain from Idaho, Clovis West, Centennial of Bakersfield, Burlingame and Arroyo Grande and took their lumps. Then came Trans-Valley League play, competing in a league that qualified six of its seven teams for NorCal postseason competition.
It was a tight match
As one would expect from a state championship match, the Friday afternoon contest went back and forth all three sets. Hilmar answered short Elsinore bursts with runs of their own.
Midway through the first set, Elsinore took a 16-12 lead, but strong serving from Alyssa Colston and a pair of Reese Ahlem kills powered a Hilmar run, tying the set at 16. The frame stayed close, with neither team holding more than a two-point lead. Trailing 24-23, Hilmar scored three unanswered points that included an Ahlem block to tie it at 24 and a set-winning ace by freshman Johanna Lawler.
The Yellowjackets broke a 10-10 second-set tie by going on an 11-4 run, pushing open their largest lead of the match, 21-14 and coasting to a set win.
It was another tightly contested third frame but a Hilmar run midway through the set turned a 14-12 Elsinore lead into a 19-14 Yellowjackets advantage, and they never trailed for the rest of the match.
All season, the Yellowjackets relied on their height. With multiple rotations that include three players 5-foot-11 or taller in the front row and multiple players over 6 feet, including Ahlem (6-foot-2), Lawler (6-4), senior Emma Gomes (6-1) and junior Emily Barroso (6-3), Hilmar’s defense at the net wore down the Tigers as the match went on.
Multiple times throughout the match, Elsinore hit the ball right into a block put up by setter Stella Piers and Ahlem or any other combination of Yellowjackets front-row players. Other times, Elsinore hitters overcompensated, sailing an attack over the block and far past the back line.
Gomes recorded a block for match point and players rushed the court and coaches hugged each other on the sideline.
“We’ve got big blockers, we’ve got big middles,” Harris said. “To have two middles who are really strong is great. We have a strong offense and they execute very well, and our defense over the course of the postseason got better and better.”
Hilmar fell in last season’s state title match and lost the 2018 state championship in five sets. In their third try, they reached the mountaintop.
“It’s been quite a ride,” Harris said of this season. “It’s like everything we’ve done this season from the preseason, tough games in tournaments that we played in, a tough league, everything was slowly making the girls better.”
