Athletes have different ways of calming their nerves before major competitions, some more unique than others. In the baseball world, Boston’s Triston Casas has become infamous for meditating on the field before batting practice. Former NBA player Caron Butler was known to pound sodas in the locker room. In 1985, San Francisco 49ers team photographer, Michael Zagaris, captured head coach Bill Walsh lounging on the floor ahead of Super Bowl XIX. Down the hall, he snapped a shot of Ronnie Lott reading as he underwent acupuncture treatment.
On Halloween night, the Hilmar volleyball team channeled their inner-Lott, gathering around in their locker room to read a chapter from “Mind Gym,” written by sports psychology consultant Gary Mack. The book lists steps on how athletes can improve their mental strength.
Minutes later, in their quarterfinal match of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 playoffs, the No. 3 Yellowjackets (26-8, 9-3 Trans-Valley League) looked as strong as ever, winning in straight sets over No. 6 El Dorado of Placerville (19-12, 11-3 Sierra Valley Conference by 25-21, 25-19, 25-7 scores. The win advances the TVL runners-up to the semifinals, where they will face off with another SVC team, No. 2 Liberty Ranch (33-4, 14-0), in Galt on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Additionally, the Yellowjackets automatically qualified to the state tournament, which takes place later this month.
“This was one of our most consistent games ever,” said senior hitter Finley Rosa, who led the team with 14 kills and four aces. Five of those came in the opening set, setting the tone. “My mentality always is to lead my team by example. Go up hard, go up big, swing guard, change the tempo if I need to, but I know that it's our game. We run this court and we're here to show teams who we are.”
The Yellowjackets didn’t surrender the lead for the entirety of the first set. In the following frame, they built a 21-10 lead before facing some of the only adversity posed to them on the night, as they proceeded to surrender seven consecutive points after a series of hits out-of-bounds and kills from the Cougars. But Rosa, junior Emma Gomes and sophomore Reese Ahlem combined for the final four scores to turn the page to the third set, which was dominated by Alyssa Colston. The junior recorded two blocks and four of her seven total kills in the dominant period.
“It goes back to reading the book,” Colston said. “Our mentality is always to be super strong. Our team is very big on mental things, and today, it was just about mental strength. We were able to put that second set away and put all our focus on that third set… We executed really well and just didn’t let up.”
Gomes was second in scoring with nine kills, while junior Stella Pires had 36 assists and senior libero Teygan Horstmeier anchored the team with 22 digs.
The Yellowjackets have been reading one chapter out of Mind Gym before each match since the start of the year, a tradition started by Rosa. The ritual will go unchanged as they turn their attention to Liberty Ranch, who advanced to the semifinals after a 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-24) win over No. 10 Hughson on Thursday. The Yellowjackets won two of three from the Huskies in the regular season.
“We'll be focusing on them all weekend, watching film and dissecting them,” said head coach Patti Harris. “It should be a good game.”
Denair’s dream season ends
After winning their first playoff game in over three decades on Tuesday, No. 9 Denair met their match in top-seeded Big Valley Christian on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Division 5 bracket.
The Lions, who had a 26-8 overall record coming into the contest, dominated early, winning the first set handily by a 25-6 score. They claimed the second frame 25-16, and put away the match, 25-21, after a brief comeback attempt by the Coyotes.
Despite being eliminated, the 2024 season was one for the history books. Their 16-9 regular season record and a 9-5 finish in the Southern Athletic League were both the best by the program since 2009, whey they went 15-10-1 overall and 8-7 in conference competition. The playoff berth was their first in more than 20 years.
And they have no plans of slowing down. This year’s roster of 12 included just four seniors. Meanwhile, five were juniors and three were underclassmen.
Pitman falls to St. Mary’s
The No. 6 Pride will also turn their attention to the future as their season came to a close Thursday night in Stockton as they fell in straight sets (25-23, 25-13, 25-17) to No. 3 St. Mary’s in the quarterfinal of the Division 1 playoffs.
Junior Maryn Hall again led Pitman in many offensive statistics, racking up eight kills and three aces. She will be one of nine players expected to return to the Pride next season. Graduates this summer include hitter Mia Ngo, who was second in kills Thursday with five, and Danica Zamora, who had a team-high 12 assists.
Another returner, junior Aila Reich, did her best to minimize the St. Mary’s offensive attack with 24 digs, just two days after she eclipsed 1000 career digs in their first-round win over Cosumnes Oaks on Tuesday.
Under first-year head coach Ari Amini, the Pride finished the year with a 29-7 overall record, including a perfect 10-0 run in the Central California Athletic League.
