Lady Ranger spikers
out after two rounds
By Misty Volaski

They rallied, they dove, they gave it everything they had. They came back spectacularly from two games down, saving several match points in the mammoth fourth to force the decisive fifth, but couldn't sustain the intensity.

The Nordhoff girls varsity volleyball team met its match on Saturday, losing in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division III-A play-offs to the No.-3-ranked Notre Dame Knights of Sherman Oaks, 12-25, 25-27, 25-22, 28-26, 7-15.

Alison Bennett led the No. 6 Rangers with 12 kills and five blocks, and Brittney Ferro notched eight kills of her own in their final high school match. The two seniors came up with big plays time and time again, helped in the middle and on the back line by fellow senior Shannon Bryant (six kills, 18 digs) and junior Amie Cresto.

Game one saw the Knights take advantage of the Rangers' mistakes. Five Ranger service errors led to an 11-9 lead early on for the Knights. Notre Dame setter Kayce Matthess then ripped off six straight points with her floating jump serves. The Rangers, unable to produce any offense in game one, were taken care of easily, 25-12.

The Rangers came out with a sense of urgency in game two, led by senior co-captains Bennett and Bryant. Nordhoff jumped out to a 16-8 lead with five service points by Cresto. Then the Rangers succumbed to their own errors and steady play from the Knights, finding the score was 20-20. The momentum had shifted and the Knights pulled off a game two come back by a score of 27-25.

Game three saw the Rangers scratch and claw their way back into the match. Cresto led off the match with eight unanswered service points and her first of two aces of the match. Once again the Knights were able to battle their way back into the game. The Knights came within three points before senior Stephanie Sproul dug an attempt by the Notre Dame and finished off the point with a kill.

Notre Dame came all the way back to within one after a time out. But senior co-captain Ferro (35 assists) was not about to let the Knights steal this game from the Rangers as she stuffed a kill attempt by Notre Dame's Megan Hayes, pushing the lead back to two. The Rangers finished off the Knights in game three by a score of 25-22.

Game four allowed no time for either team to relax. The Rangers took an early lead with the help of back-to-back aces by Bryant. With the Rangers leading 10-6, Notre Dame Head coach Shannon Tuttle was given a yellow card warning for disagreeing with a call, adding more intensity to the game. Notre Dame tied the score at 13 and was able to gain a two-point lead later in the game from four services aces by Meredith Rice.

But the Rangers refused to fold. Nordhoff received three aces of their own over the course of the next five points, one by Ferro and two by junior Stephanie Flasch (nine kills). Bennett then added two solid kills to keep the Rangers within one at 22-23. From there the lead switched hands several times. Cresto came up with two of her match-high 21 digs at the 25-26 mark to keep the game and match alive and allow Ferro, Bennett and Flasch to finish up game four for the Rangers at 28-26.

Perhaps the drama and effort of the previous two games had sapped the Lady Rangers of their energy. In game five, they never gained any momentum. The Knights countered everything the Rangers hit their way, and Nordhoff came up short in its efforts to pull off the upset.
Ranger coach Rene Nakao-Mauch expressed her admiration for a senior-led team that consistently showed effort and skill throughout what was really quite a successful year. "The kids came out and played their hearts out tonight," she said.

The Rangers finished the season with a Frontier League championship at 8-0 and a an overall record of 18-4.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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