Rams never let up in sweep of El Diamante
| Tuesday, Nov 17 2009 10:02 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Nov 17 2009 10:02 PM
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Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian GARCES VS EL DIAMANTE V-BALL Garces's #3 Morgan Frazier #11 Caitlin Bernardin #10 Keely Palla #9 Melanie Reis and #15 Sarah Allen show emotions after winning over El Diamante.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian GARCES VS EL DIAMANTE V-BALL #10 Keely Palla and #2 Amanda Aguliar of Garces stop the ball from coming over the net.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian GARCES VS EL DIAMANTE V-BALL Sarah Allen #15 along with #9 Melanie Reis successfully blocks the ball from coming over the net.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian GARCES VS EL DIAMANTE V-BALL Garces's #3 Morgan Frazier #11 Caitlin Bernardin #10 Keely Palla #9 Melanie Reis and #15 Sarah Allen show emotions after winning over El Diamante.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian GARCES VS EL DIAMANTE V-BALL Garces #11 Caitlin Bernardin shoots one back to Celina Huerta of El Diamante.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian GARCES VS EL DIAMANTE V-BALL #10 Keely Palla and #2 Amanda Aguliar of Garces stop the ball from coming over the net.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian GARCES VS EL DIAMANTE V-BALL #11 Caitiin Bernardin and #13 Kimber Gutierrez get excited over a winning point in the second game Tuesday night at the Valley playoffs held at Garces H.S.
Visalia-El Diamante was playing its best volleyball, digging, setting and spiking with passion on every point, and it was paying off.
Melanie Reis slammed a ball to the floor for Garces. Stevie Stier served an ace. Then Caitlin Bernardin streaked to the net and found the floor with her powerful stroke. The Miners' lead was gone. Garces cruised to victory.
And that was just the close game.
The No. 2-seeded Rams powered their way past No. 3 El Diamante 25-9, 25-19, 25-18 at home Tuesday in the Division II Central Section semifinals.
Garces (26-9) advances to Thursday's final at No. 1 Frontier, where the Rams will seek their third straight section title: They won the 2007 Division IV championship and beat Hanford for the D-II crown last year.
The Rams' strategy against Frontier likely will be the same as it was Tuesday: Don't let the ball hit the floor, then get the ball to Reis or Bernardin and let them swing.
"We come guns blazing from every direction," Harper said. "Between Caitlin Bernardin, who played phenomenal tonight, and Melanie Reis, who did a great job of managing the game, to Amanda Aguilar, Keely Palla. We have guns coming all the time. There's not really a weak link."
Bernardin finished with 17 kills and 20 digs, and Reis had 14 kills, including three as Garces pulled away from a 17-17 tie in Game 2 and two more during the Rams' 8-0 run that ended the match.
"We really kept up the momentum," Reis said. "With all of us working together, we really had it made."
Morgan Frazier had 33 assists for Garces, Kimber Gutierrez had 16 digs, and Aguilar and Palla had six blocks apiece.
El Diamante (27-7) came in as the co-West Yosemite League champion and had hopes for an upset. But the Miners were snowed under almost immediately, falling behind 13-3 and managing just two points on their serve in the first game.
"Our goal was to come out strong," Harper said. "Coming out 25-9 first game was huge for us. We just stayed focused. We knew if we played well, we could win."
Raegan Heitzig led El Diamante with seven kills.
"When you go into somebody's house, it's how you deal with all the factors," Miners coach Leslie Sorenson said. "We didn't do that well. ... They did a lot of damage to us, and we didn't recover."
In what became a routine victory, almost nothing all night got the Rams as excited as the news that Frontier had swept Lemoore -- the other WYL champion -- in the other semifinal. That sets up a championship match between schools that split two regular-season meetings.
"I think we both wanted (to play) each other," Reis said.
And if Tuesday was any indication, the Rams will force the Titans to repel some considerable power."I am thrilled Frontier won," Harper said. "I want to play the best, and Frontier is a great team. I'm excited."
