Mount Madonna’s Allison Ota (16) hits a spike as Bradshaw Christian’s Emily Cortese (4) blocks during a Northern California Division V playoff match Tuesday at Pajaro Valley High. (Photo by Eric Anderson)

The Mount Madonna girls volleyball team didn’t know much about Bradshaw Christian of Sacramento, its opponent in the first round of the Northern California Division V playoffs Tuesday night at Pajaro Valley High.

It didn’t matter.

The second-seeded Hawks, seeking their second state title in three years, overcame a slow start in the first game to post a 25-21, 25-13, 25-17 victory and earn a spot in the second round.

“One of our big goals tonight was to serve really tough,” Mount Madonna coach Gabby Houston-Neville said. “We really didn’t talk much about strategy, except serve as hard as you can.”

The strategy was a complete success. The Hawks (27-6) made it difficult for Bradshaw Christian (25-12) to pass the ball accurately to its setter, and 14 times the powerful, spinning serves resulted in aces. And the aggressiveness didn’t have a downside, as Mount Madonna only committed two service errors.

Senior Mara Getz led the Hawks with five aces, with sophomore Allison Ota adding three aces to go with her team-high 11 kills.

“They’re a great serving team,” Bradshaw Christian coach Ric Reyes said of Mount Madonna. “While I think we’re a strong passing team, we don’t pass well under pressure.”

While it ended up being a relatively easy win for the Hawks, early on it appeared they were in for a tough battle. The Pride, making their first appearance in the NorCal playoffs, stayed right with Mount Madonna for much of the first game, and took a 17-15 lead, only for the Hawks to score six straight points to take control.

Mount Madonna rode the momentum from winning the first game, however, to take an early 6-0 lead in Game 2, and pushed its advantage to 19-6 at one point.

It continued to dominate in Game 3, taking leads of 13-5 and 23-11 en route to easily closing out the match.

“Once we got comfortable, we started playing a lot better,” Ota said.

Bradshaw Christian was the taller team, with six players listed at 5-foot-10 or taller, and had a strong weapon in 5-foot-10 junior outside hitter Patricia Orozco.

But even when they were able to get an accurate pass against Mount Madonna’s serve and get their offense going, the Hawks often had an answer with their tough-to-crack defense. Soma Sharan had 19 digs and Lily Connor had 13 digs, and Orozco was held to nine kills, less than half her total in each of her previous four matches, Reyes said.

“Our coach always says if you win the serving game and the passing game, then you’re going to win the match,” Ota said. “I think we had outstanding passing and serving.”

Also for Mount Madonna, Erin Mitchell had 30 assists, Anneka Lettunich six kills and Zoe Bostick five kills and two blocks.

The Hawks will play Marin Academy (28-9) of San Rafael in the second round Saturday at 7 p.m. at Pajaro Valley High. Marin Academy defeated third-seeded Hamilton 27-25, 27-25, 25-23 in the first round.

The winner of Saturday’s match will play the winner of the second-round match between top-seeded Branson (32-5) and fourth-seeded Castilleja (18-12) in the Nor-Cal finals on Tuesday. Mount Madonna beat Castilleja in the Central Coast Section final, while Branson defeated Marin Academy in the North Coast Section final.

“We’re really excited, but we just have to keep working and pushing it one game at a time,” Ota said.



Share on Facebook