OLYMPIC LEAGUE GIRLS VOLLEYBALL – Valley Christian locks down second place with sweep over pesky Heritage Christian squad

October 17, 2024

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

The one thing the Valley Christian High girls volleyball team did not need was to overlook a Heritage Christian High squad that was itching to leapfrog the Defenders for second place in the Olympic League. But the one thing V.C. had going in its favor was that the program had never lost to the Warriors in 27 matches and had lost just 15 sets since the series began in 2010.

With a chance to secure second place all to themselves, the Defenders swept Heritage Christian 25-21, 25-16, 25-21 behind another solid, well-rounded offensive attack and stellar serving from sophomore setter Lucy Taylor, improving to 14-2 in matches decided by a sweep this season. The Warriors have lost four of their last five matches overall, but are 16-9, clinched the third spot in the league and have turned around their program which was 1-22 just three seasons ago.

“I think it’s their scrappy defense and their libero is great,” said V.C. first-year head coach Stacy Brannon. “They didn’t let anything drop, and their serve receive passing the first game was perfect. They had perfect passing right to the setter, so they had all the options. That was the difference.”

Heritage Christian held a lead throughout most of the first set, leading by as many as five points (19-14) as the second rotation was at its end. Up to this point, the largest lead for the Defenders was three points, and that was when it was 5-2. But a kill from sophomore outside hitter Tessa Dobmeier gave the hosts on senior night the spark they needed, and Taylor was a huge part of it.

She would see junior middle hitter Jordan Weston get a kill, followed by consecutive kills from sophomore outside hitter Jenna Van Kampen before putting her team in the lead for good with the first of back to back aces. Moments later, a pair of serving errors enabled the Warriors to pull to within two points. But a serving error and Taylor’s first kill ended the set as half a dozen players recorded at least one kill.

“I think, because we were down, I knew it was really important that I had to make my serves,” said Taylor. “I was just thinking about doing it for my team. I always tell myself right before I serve that I can do it; I can make this serve. I think saying positive words to yourself before you do something can be helpful.”

The Defenders had another sluggish start to begin the second set, even though the Warriors never led. It was tied once, and V.C. had an 8-2 lead before Heritage Christian scored three straight points and later trailed 10-8. But in the middle of the second rotation, junior defensive specialist Kaylie Prins served three straight points to increase her team’s lead to 20-12. The set would end with junior outside hitter Aniyah Peoples collecting her second kill, followed by two more aces from Taylor.

“I think they came out on fire to play,” said Brannon of Heritage Christian. “They were playing at their highest level tonight. A lot of our hitters couldn’t get [the ball] down sometimes. That’s a good team; they’ve improved over the years, a lot.

“I do feel that some of our matches, we do start slow,” she later added. “It’s funny because in our Village [Christian] matches, it was the opposite. That was interesting because that’s not the norm.”

The third set was just as tight through the first rotation as the first two sets, but this time, there were six ties and three lead changes. V.C. squandered leads of 5-2 and 8-5 only to see the Warriors tie the set two times. Then it was V.C. who tied the set three times before taking the lead for good at 12-11 on a Dobmeier kill.

With the Defenders clinging to a 13-12 advantage, Weston had a kill to end the first rotation, then Taylor did her thing again. A block by Weston and a kill from senior outside hitter Cameron Warner forced the Warriors to call a timeout. When play resumed, Taylor served three straight aces.

“Lucy always served down the line really well, and they had a little stacking of a couple of players,” said Brannon. “So, she just kept the ball in and was serving them tough. That was the turning point of the first game.”

“I think when the other team calls a timeout, it shows that maybe we’re in their head and this is our time to step up and finish the job, especially when our coach is giving us words of advice,” said Taylor.

But the Warriors weren’t done yet as Abigail Ramirez served three straight points to make it 19-16. After the teams traded serves into the net, Mia Leonard’s kill made it 20-18. But Dobmeier would respond with a kill and a block before both teams traded points until the end.

Dobmeier led the Defenders with 12 kills while Van Kampen added eight kills, Warner with seven kills and junior middle hitter Aubrey Ericks pitched in with six kills. Taylor also had seven aces while junior libero Devyn Masi had a pair of aces.

“We’re very deep, for sure,” said Brannon. “All those players are attackers, and we have [sophomore] Brooklyn [Warner] out right now and Aniyah and even Whitney are even coming in and it hasn’t fazed us. We’re a deep team and well-rounded for sure.”

Including a 26-24, 22-25, 25-16, 25-18 win at Maranatha this past Tuesday, V.C. will enter the CIF-Southern Section divisional playoffs at 21-5 overall, 2-2 in the league. It’s the third straight season in which the program has finished 6-2 in league, but more importantly, V.C. reached at least 20 wins for the seventh time since 2012 and 10^th time since 1998 when Brannon, who was Stacy Rouwenhorst, guided V.C. to a USA Today National Championship and a 33-0 campaign.

“We’re a good team; we’ve played really well this season,” said Brannon. “The rankings show that; it’s putting us in Division 2 right now. So, we’ll have our work cut out for us because we’ve never played in Division 2 as far as I know in our history. They deserve to be there, but we’ll definitely have teams at our level when we go to [the playoffs].

“[We] can be pretty dangerous,” she continued. “I know we’re ranked higher this year, so [the playoffs] are definitely going to be trickier. But I think if we give it our all, we’ve got it. And we can probably go far.”

“I think it’s been a good season, and my teammates lift each other up,” said Taylor. “I think I’ve been doing better this year and it’s really fun playing with my team. I think I expected a lot from this team right away. I knew it could be a good team and I know coach Brannon had a lot of experience and that she’s a really good coach. She’s always giving us technical advice. I’m proud of this team.”