For an inexperienced group, Ripon Christian showed its growth Tuesday when it was eliminated from the California Interscholastic Federation Division IV Northern Regionals.
The fifth-seeded Knights stumbled out the gates in the quarterfinal at St. Patrick-St. Vincent of Vallejo but were not discouraged, going down fighting, 9-25, 26-28, 25-22, 25-21, 8-15.
SPSV (28-9) scored the first three points of the final game and led by as much as eight, 9-3, after a block from Tatiana Handy. Senior standout Cierra Ray closed it out with her match-high 22nd kill.
The Bruins travel to top-seeded Liberty Ranch (35-5) on Saturday for a semifinal. No. 2 Hilmar (28-9) and No. 3 Fresno Christian (39-13) are on the other side of the NorCal bracket.
“In between (the second and third) sets, we talked about how we’ve been here before against Central Catholic,” Ripon Christian coach Kayla Kootstra said, referencing her team’s comeback win in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs. “We did the same thing: lost the first set pretty bad, lost a tight second set. We know we can do this, we just have to show it.
“We were able to do that in the third and fourth sets, unfortunately, we made too many errors, and they turned up the intensity in the fifth set.”
Outside hitter Paige Van Hofwegen paced the Knights (20-17) with 16 kills and 14 digs. Brynn Bohn added 19 kills, 17 service points four aces and four blocks. Alanna Blanco collected 43 assists, 10 digs and four blocks.
Tatum Sonke and Anneke Dyt led the back line with 17 and 15 digs, respectively. Morgan Schenk (nine kills) and Haley Kootstra (six kills, two blocks) also contributed on Ripon Christian’s front line.
St. Patrick-St. Vincent came out firing behind its talented front-row tandem of sophomore Dior Duru (20 kills, five aces, three blocks) and Ray. Freshman Alejandra Bowie (six kills, six blocks) and Handy (three kills, four blocks) also made their presence felt, while setter Danica Pagtakhan (14 points, four aces) and defensive specialist Jerita Pingol (17 points, three aces) had multiple service runs.
Following the lackluster opening set, Ripon Christian got its offense untracked in the second game. SPSV got big blocks from Handy on successive plays to give the Bruins a 19-14 lead, but the Knights came back and jumped ahead 24-23 on Schenk’s kill.
Ripon Christian was unable to clinch the set, however, despite three game-point opportunities. St. Patrick-St. Vincent rallied for the final three points, aided by two straight net violations before securing it with an ace from Pagtakhan.
“These girls are inexperienced, and this is the biggest game most of them had played,” coach Kootstra said. “We saw that in the first set. Whether it was the nerves or the travel, nothing quite clicked in that first set. St. Patrick-St. Vincent is a good team, and you can’t have that happen against a good team.
“We came out a little bit more settled (in the second set), it’s unfortunate how it ended. We thought we had the win, and then we get the net call and lost it on the next point.”
SPSV appeared to be on its way to a sweep after jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the third set. Ripon Christian answered with a 9-2 run and later finished on a five-point flurry capped by Hofman’s kill.
The Knights carried the momentum into game 4, leading wire-to-wire after opening on a 9-1 run. Bohn and Hofman combined to block a spike from Duru to give RC set point, and Schenk sent it to game 5 with another kill.
Ripon Christian could not sustain the dominant play, as St. Patrick-St. Vincent took advantage of the visiting team’s mistakes and its lively home crowd.
Despite the heartbreaking end, it was still an encouraging follow-up to Ripon Christian’s incredible run of back-to-back state championships. The Knights reloaded with almost an entirely new cast of players and had to grow up fast as they played in their first season back in the highly competitive Trans-Valley League. And because of the team’s success in recent seasons, it was elevated to Division III for the SJS playoffs.
“Coming in after back-to-back state titles, I think the expectations were crazy,” Kootstra said. “We heard people’s comments at the beginning of the year when we were losing games, and a lot of them started writing these girls off.
“We talked with them at the beginning of the year and said there’s a ton of potential and a ton of talent, we just have to be willing to work and grow into the team we want to be. I think they did a great job of that. The team that ended this season is much better than the team that started, and I’m very proud of how well they did this year.”
