Sonora sweeps Escalon to set up D-IV title rematch with Hilmar

Each of Kayla Mulder’s three varsity seasons at Ripon Christian High School included a trip to UC Davis to play in a Sac-Joaquin Section volleyball championship match.

In her first season as varsity coach at Escalon, Kayla Kootstra did everything in her power to guide her girls into a position to have the same experience.

Her Cougars might get there eventually but not this season, which ended Tuesday night with a 25-17, 25-3, 25-21 loss to Sonora, the top seed in Division IV.

“It would have been pretty phenomenal to get to UC Davis this year,” Kootstra said. “I took it for granted at Ripon Christian that we would get there because that’s just what we did, right? Doesn’t everyone?”

Well, no. Only two in each division get to play in Friday night’s finals, and Sonora will be shooting for its second title in a row when it meets Hilmar at 8 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s championship match.

There was one person at Bud Castle Gym who knows exactly how difficult it is to get a team to Davis, and she was sitting on the other bench.

“We had gotten to so many final fours before last year, and that seemed to be the place where we couldn’t get over the hump, no matter what group came through,” said Wildcats coach Kim Evans, who last year took Sonora (32-5) to the section final for the first time and came away with a five-set victory.

“Last year was an exceptional year of girls who play year-round volleyball, and we put them together on the court with the desire and the willpower and the Wildcat spirit. Coming back into their senior year, from day one they were preparing for UC Davis.”

Escalon (26-10) also had the goal of reaching the section title match, but it’s a program that hasn’t reached that level since 1998, when a group of Cougars now well into their 30s dropped a straight-sets decision to Linden – the program’s lone title shot.

“It is different at Escalon, and it’s not because they’re OK with losing in this round, because they’re not,” Kootstra said. “But we need to make it a mentality and a goal to get there. Getting to experience the section finals, just getting a taste of that, makes you want it again and again.”

In front of a large crowd that included at least half a battalion from the Sonora High Golden Regiment band, Escalon came out firing and led 6-2 early before the Wildcats found their rhythm.

With a formidable net tandem of outside hitter Shannon Friend and middle blocker Kelsie Evans, Sonora slowly and powerfully took control and scored the final seven points to secure the win.

And when the last point fell, so did Escalon’s spirits for about 15 minutes, which is all it took for the Wildcats to ambush the Cougars in the second set. Freshman Riley Patterson held serve for the final 17 points of the 25-3 decision, during which nothing went right for Escalon.

“It was one of those moments as a coach where you don’t really know what to do because I could make subs, but nothing seemed to be clicking for us,” Kootstra said.

While Sonora maintained a steady attack, Escalon regained enough composure to make the decisive set competitive. But the Wildcats were too strong, big and experienced to let go of the two-set lead.

“It’s hard to end like this, especially when we feel we weren’t playing our best volleyball,” Kootstra said. “Had we put our best foot forward, it would have been a fun game to watch.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2014 at 10:25 PM with the headline "Sonora sweeps Escalon to set up D-IV title rematch with Hilmar."