Pitman advances to NorCal volleyball rematch with Menlo-Atherton; Sonora, Stone Ridge also win

TURLOCK Pitman High volleyball coach Kristen Pontes-Christian isn’t the clipboard-throwing type of coach.

“Oh, maybe if I get really, really mad,” Pontes Christian joked.

But multiple times during the postgame interview following a 27-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20 victory over Carlmont in the first round of the Northern California Regional Championships, the Pride coach said she was going to have to “revisit” a specific facet of Tuesday’s game.

Revisiting … probably about as close as the Pride will get to a tongue-lashing.

“Mentally, we were not into it tonight,” said the Pitman coach, whose defending NorCal champions improved to 30-6. “We’ll revisit that in practice, and Saturday we’ll play with more intensity – all-out volleyball.”

With the win over the Scots (27-10), the second-seeded Pride will host No. 3 Menlo-Atherton in a rematch of last year’s NorCal championship game. The Bears advanced to Saturday’s 7 p.m. NorCal semifinal by beating Lowell (San Francisco) 3-0. Menlo-Atherton won the Central Coast Section title by defeating Carlmont 25-14, 27-25, 27-17 last Saturday.

“They were just a little too strong, a little too smooth for us,” said Carlmont coach Chris Crader. “They have all that playoff experience from last year and that makes a difference.”

The Pride may not have been into the game mentally – last weekend’s run to a second consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title may have played a part in that – but they came through at key stages in the game.

Late in Game 1, trailing 25-24, Pitman’s sophomore outside hitter Whitney Barnes blocked Alexis Morrow to tie the score. Then, after Morrow hit a kill attempt into the net to give the Pride a 26-25 advantage, Barnes spiked home the clincher from the outside.

In Game 3, three consecutive kills from Barnes gave the Pride a 21-18 lead. Barnes had a fourth kill during the run to make it 24-19, before Maya McClellan returned it long for the final point.

“We made too man unforced errors, which is something we’ve done all year,” said Crader. “We tried to be aggressive with our serving and hitting, but when they’re a little off, it makes it bad.

“But Pitman does a nice job of limited unforced errors, and when we make errors, combined with their firepower, well, the math’s not good for us.”

Sonora 3, Sutter 0 in Sonora – The defending state champions advanced to the Division IV NorCal semifinals with a 25-19, 25-17, 25-9 win over the Huskies.

The No. 3 Wildcats (32-4) got12 kills, five aces and three blocks from 6-foot-1 senior middle blocker Kelsie Evans, while setter Kiana Pisula had 22 assists. Defensive specialist Riley Patterson led the team with 15 digs.

The match started 90 minutes earlier than scheduled due to a winter storm warning and predicted snow in the foothills.

“Sutter won the Northern Section so it was unusual to have two section-winning teams play in the first round,” said Wildcats coach Kim Evans. “They were a tough first appointment and were a good test for us. They’re well coached and played hard. I’m glad see our girls continue to improve each match, even this late in the season. We are proud to represent the Sac-Joaquin Section and move on to the next round.”

The Wildcats will take on No. 2 Marin Catholic (32-9) on Saturday in Kentfield. Marin Catholic, also nicknamed the Wildcats, defeated West Valey (Cottonwood) 3-0 on Tuesday.

Menlo 3, Hilmar 1 in Atherton – The Yellowjackets, who fell to Sonora in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV title game to Sonora for a third consecutive year last Saturday, closed out their season with a second consecutive loss, falling to the Knights 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19 in the opening round of the Northern California Division IV regional.

Stone Ridge Christian 3, Anderson Valley 0 in Merced – The fourth-seeded Knights (21-11) took care of business at home Tuesday night, sweeping No. 5 Anderson Valley of Boonville 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 in the first round of the Northern California Regional Division VI playoffs. Stone Ridge Christian will face top seed and defending NorCal champion San Francisco Waldorf (29-4), which swept the California School for the Deaf 25-16, 25-22, 25-10 on Tuesday.

The semifinal match will be at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Knights dictated the match from the start as hitters Justine De Jager (11 kills and five aces), Sarah Jordan (10 kills) and Aubriana Vander Woude (eight kills) had the Panthers on their heels.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Pitman advances to NorCal volleyball rematch with Menlo-Atherton; Sonora, Stone Ridge also win."