MENIFEE – Just over a month ago the Paloma Valley girls volleyball team’s season started off with a five-set win at Corona Santiago, tri-champions of the ever powerful Big VIII League last year. On Wednesday, Sept. 20 it reached the halfway mark in the same manner as the Wildcats survived a gutsy Rancho Christian effort to prevail 22-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21, 15-12. They moved to 10-2 on the season and 3-0 in Ivy League competition while Rancho Christian fell to 14-5 overall and 1-1 in Ivy League play.
It wasn’t the best of starts for Paloma Valley, coming off a four-set win at Riverside Poly, as they fell behind 10-1 out of the gate which necessitated a Stephen Kaas timeout. Savannah Thomas had a pair of kills while Mackenzie Duguid added a pair of aces in that spurt which was aided by four Wildcat attacking errors. Kaas’ timeout worked as Paloma Valley rallied all the way back to tie the set at 13 behind three kills from Mia Rosas and a pair of aces from Cadence Croxton. Two kills from Thomas and a Duguid ace gave Rancho Christian a 22-20 lead and the set ended on a Wildcat attack error.
“They trust each other quite a bit even when we’re struggling and that’s a great thing to see as a coach,” Kaas said. “We’ve been waiting for Kamryn to have a match like this all year against a quality opponent and I hope she gains confidence moving forward because of it. Tonight was one of those nights where areas we’ve been strong all year in were a struggle and areas we struggled in became our strengths, but they figured out how to get it done against a great Rancho Christian side.”
Paloma Valley jumped out to an early 13-9 set two lead after a kill from Baylie Moore, who had two kills and a block in the opening part of the set. Back-to-back kills from Thomas and Ashley Bosich’s ace leveled the set at 13 but a Rosas kill leveled the match at a set apiece with a 25-20 Wildcat win.
Set three was a see saw affair that saw neither side hold more than a two-point lead until the 20s. Tied at 21, an ace from Sophia Duguid plus back-to-back Wildcat errors put the Eagles on set point and Thomas gave Rancho Christian a 25-21 set win with her second kill in the final five points.
Serving was the story of set four as the two teams combined for seven aces in the first 13 points, with Paloma Valley jumping out to a 9-4 lead. Lauren Kendall had a trio of aces for Paloma Valley while Hannah Welch added a pair for the Wildcats. Rancho Christian’s libero, Brighton Richards, also joined the party with a pair of aces in that stretch. Kamryn Anderson recorded three kills in the last five points to put the Wildcats on the precipice of a deciding set and a Rosas kill pushed Paloma Valley to the tiebreaker.
In the fifth it was two kills from Rosas and another pair of aces from Welch which pushed Paloma Valley to an early 7-3 lead. Rancho Christian rallied and tied the set at 10 behind three kills from Thomas along with an ace and kill from Suzy Kemle. However, a Thomas attack error ended the two-hour battle for first place.
“That win at Santiago was a big confidence boost right out of the gate because we had never beaten them in my time here,” Rosas said. “We know we have what it takes to make a deep run in the playoffs and playing teams like Poly and Rancho Christian gives us a taste of what that will be like.”
For Paloma Valley, who will finish the week with a trip to Corona Santiago’s Freeway Games tournament this weekend, Rosas had 16 kills with 14 digs and a pair of aces to lead the Wildcats while Anderson, a midseason call-up a season ago, added a season high 10 kills while hitting .304. It was Welch leading the attack at the service line with six aces while Kendall added another five. Six different Wildcat servers recorded multiple aces.
Rancho Christian got 25 kills from Thomas in defeat while Kemble added 12. Four different Eagles had multiple aces from behind the service line.
Derryl Trujillo can be reached by email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.