After 90 minutes of intense volleyball, Hilmar junior hitter Alyssa Colston rose high above the net at the center of Strom Gymnasium and blasted a thunderous shot toward an opposing defender. The ball glanced off the player’s arm and onto the hardwood, and a dogpile quickly formed as several fans attempted to rush the court in moments of pure jubilation.
The Yellowjacket faithful were celebrating a dominant, straight-set victory over St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the championship game of the California Interscholastic Federation Division 4 State Volleyball Tournament on Tuesday night. It was their second Northern California Regional title in school history and first in six years.
The No. 2 Yellowjackets (30-9) faced little adversity in their match against the No. 4 Bruins (29-10), which they won 25-23, 25-18, 25-23. Their opening set was the most difficult, as they quickly fell behind 6-3 and trailed for the majority of the frame. They took a 21-20 lead on a kill by junior Emma Gomes and never looked back. They finished the set on a 6-3 run. After going back-and-forth with the Bruins, they similarly pulled away midway through the second set, sparked by a pair of aces from junior Stella Pires and kills from Colston, Gomes and senior Finley Rosa. They ended the clinching set on a 5-2 run.
“We're a crazy strong team,” Colston said amid the loud postgame celebration. “We just really focused on our mental game, and we definitely executed. We just showed up and showed out.
“The book worked!”
The book that the star hitter referred to was “Mind Gym,” written by sports psychology consultant Gary Mack. Earlier this year, Colston and Rosa explained to the Turlock Journal that the team read a chapter of the motivation guide prior to each match this season. It was especially needed knowing the tall task that faced the Yellowjackets.
After a 9-3, runner-up finish in the Trans-Valley League, the Yellowjackets also came up just short in the semifinal Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 playoffs. They qualified to the state tournament with the semifinal appearance, and when they were named the second seed in their bracket, had to face a gauntlet of three straight section champions in University Prep (D-4 Northern Section) last Tuesday, Bullard (D-3 Central Section) on Thursday and Fresno Christian (D-4 Central Section) on Saturday in order to punch their ticket to the regional final.
“It’s kind of a flex,” said middle hitter Reese Ahlem. “We talked about it as well. We fell short of league and sections, and we have three section belts in the way of our (state) title right now. We don't have our own, but we’ll take three of theirs to go along with this one now.”
For players like Rosa, Colston and senior libero Teygan Hortsmeier, raising the NorCal championship plaque was redemption for the heartbreak they experienced roughly nine months ago, as they were players on the school’s soccer team that lost in penalty kicks in the CIF NorCal regional title game.
After how we finished our soccer season, we had to get rid of that feeling, and we just wanted to get our get-back and get the win, and we did,” Rosa said. “It feels amazing to have new medals.. It's just a crazy feeling.”
Rosa led her team with 11 kills to go along with two aces and a block. Getting the scoring going early was Gomes, who compiled three kills and a block to help mount the first-set comeback. Colston finished with seven kills, a block and an ace.
“Girls like Reese, Stella and Sophie (Stivers), they block well, play great defense, they just bring so much energy and it’s so infectious,” said Hilmar head coach Patti Harris. “They just go crazy for each other. You can see that the energy is so great. They bring it up and they play for each other, and once a team does that, they're pretty unstoppable.
“I don’t know what else to say other than that I’m super, super proud of this group of girls.”
‘Jackets to face off with South Pasadena in state title game
The Yellowjackets celebrated into the night Tuesday, but were well aware that (along with there being school the next morning) there is just one last game in their historic 2024 season. On Friday, the team will hop on a bus and make the nearly six hour drive south to the city of Orange, just outside of Anaheim, to prepare for Saturday’s D-4 state championship game against South Pasadena, who won the Southern California title Tuesday over Walnut in five sets. The game is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at Santiago Canyon College.
In their first state title game in 2018, the Yellowjackets lost a five-set heartbreaker to San Luis Obispo.
The fact that we won in three (sets) today, at this time of the season, is amazing,” Harris added. “At this level, everybody is good, so we’re hoping to get the job done.”
