No blue banner, no problem for Hilmar’s volleyball squad.
On Tuesday night inside Strom Gymnasium, more than a week after they were eliminated in the semifinal round of the Sac-Joaquin Section 5 playoffs, the Yellowjackets kicked off the 2024 California Interscholastic Division 4 State Volleyball Championships with a strong showing against University Prep of Redding, defeating the Panthers in straight sets (25-18, 25-18, 25-21) to advance to advance to the second round.
Tuesday’s win was a statement for the ‘Jackets (26-9), proving that they belonged as the bracket’s second seed despite not winning their section title. Meanwhile, the No. 15 Panthers (22-13) were just three days removed from claiming the Northern Section championship.
“Each section is so different, you never really know what to expect once you get to this point, here in the state tournament,” said Hilmar head coach Patti Harris.
Senior libero Teygan Hortstmeier understood that the Panthers would be motivated by the fact that they were ranked 13 seeds lower despite a title to their name, but explained that they were mentally prepared for the challenge.
“We knew that they were going to come to play,” Horstmeier said. “We're in a state tournament now. No one's just going to roll over. We watched so much film, probably an hour and a half of it. Our coaches watched probably five hours. We really prepared for the game. We deserved this.”
Horstmeier, an animated leader for her team, was the hero early on. In each of the first two sets, the captain dove in all directions without hesitation to keep multiple sequences alive, even if it came at the price of an inadvertent elbow from a teammate to the side of her head or jamming her wrist on the hardwood. By game’s end, she led all players with 21 digs.
Also craving contact was the sophomore duo of Reese Ahlem and Emily Barroso, who each had a team-high three blocks. Two of Ahlem’s blocks came in the third set to help keep the Panthers from building much momentum. Junior Stella Pires pitched in another two, while also leading the team in assists with 27 and three aces. Leading the way in the kill department was senior Finley Rosa with 21.
The game didn’t come without adversity, though. With a 24-12 lead in the second set, the Yellowjackets surrendered six straight points. Harris called a time out, and the next Panther serve landed out-of-bounds.
The Panthers rode the momentum of the near-comeback by jumping out to a 16-10 lead in the third set. But kills from Rosa, junior Alyssa Colston and a pair from Barroso rattled their opponents, who offered their next three return shots out of play to give Hilmar the lead for good. Colston ended the match — and University Prep’s season — emphatically with a kill.
“We had the bumps here and there, but the girls played super hard, super focused and had a game plan, and they executed. It was great,” Harris said. “Now to watch more hours of film.”
Harris and her staff will be studying the play of another newly-crowned section champion, this time No. 7 Bullard High, who won the Central Section’s Division 3 title this past weekend. The Knights are 23-21 overall and punched their ticket to the second round with a 3-1 win over Notre Dame of Belmont on Tuesday. Hilmar will also host Thursday’s game.
“To be totally honest, at the beginning of the year, I really didn't think that we would still be playing,” Horstmeier admitted. “I knew that we would make sections, especially because we were ranked so high, but I didn’t think we’d be able to come all the way here and win our first round game. But we had such a strong bond with one another and had some really good games, we know how we match up and we’re expecting to win.”
