WATSONVILLE >> Recalculating.
As players from Clear Lake High attempted to navigate the winding, dark and obscure route to Mount Madonna School, located high above Watsonville, for their Northern California Division V girls volleyball semifinal, their navigation systems kept them constant company.
Compared to finding a way through Mount Madonna’s defense, however, getting to the gym seemed elementary.
The Hawks shook off a slow start, then drove home a 16-25, 25-13, 25-13, 19-25, 15-12 victory Tuesday night that might have made the four-plus-hour trip back to Lakeport, near Ukiah, feel even longer than the circuitous trip south for the Cardinals.
“They got really scrappy and picked up a lot of balls that a lot of teams don’t pick up,” Cardinals coach Marci Psalmonds, who was leading Clear Lake through its first NorCal tournament, said of Mount Madonna.
“Defense saved their butts.”
The Hawks (17-11) are now just one match away from making their own long road trip south — to Orange for the state championship. First, though, the No. 3 seed must get past No. 1 San Marin (18-11) on Saturday in the NorCal championship in Novato. San Marin swept No. 4 Barean Christian in the other D-V semifinal.
It is the first time Mount Madonna has reached the title match since 2009 — two years after the Hawks won their only state championship — and the first time any team from Santa Cruz County has reached the NorCal final since Soquel made it in the D-IV bracket in 2011.
“I’m definitely excited we’re moving forward. I’m excited to see what the next team has in store,” said sophomore libero AnMei Dasbach-Prisk. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was to go for state. That was a pretty big goal, but we’re just two games away.”
While some of Clear Lake’s players didn’t arrive until 10 minutes before the start of the match, and nervous energy emanated from the team beforehand, it didn’t seem to affect the No. 7 Cardinals’ play.
“We were on fire,” Psalmonds said. “The adrenaline probably might have helped us a little.”
The crowd may have as well, for Clear Lake (29-7) brought plenty of vocal fans who took over Mount Madonna’s new $1.8 million gym before an equal number of Hawks fans trickled in.
Either way, before the Hawks could blink, they were down 5-0, including two aces by Clear Lake’s Shaelyn McIntire. Mount Madonna never really did find its rhythm in the set, and it looked like the trip would be worthwhile for the Cardinals.
But similar to their quarterfinal match, which they won 3-1 over No. 11 Escalon, the Hawks flipped a switch during the break and came out a different, more aggressive team.
“It’s just fun when they get into that ‘I’m going for it’ (mentality) and they make some digs,” said coach Erin Mitchell, who played on Mount Madonna’s state-championship team a decade ago. “It’s pretty amazing, they really will make some great digs. It’s really fun.”
Mount Madonna grabbed the 5-4 lead in the second set and didn’t trail again until the very start of the fourth set. Clear Lake, meanwhile, showed grit as it battled back after two maulings to win the fourth set. Behind the high and hard hits of Sonoma State-bound senior Kiana Richardson, who tallied 15 kills for the match, the Cardinals forced the winner-take-all fifth.
Outside Camille Donald added nine kills for the match, while middles Corin Alakszay and Valerie Hutton added nine kills and four blocks and six kills and two blocks respectively for the Cardinal. Clear Lake, which tied for first in its league title but was knocked out by Berean Christian in the North Coast Section semifinals, will graduate seven of its 13 players, none of whom play club.
Mount Madonna didn’t cower, though, and led the set wire to wire to extend its season past Thanksgiving.
For the Hawks, junior outside Mara Peruzzi and senior middle Gracie Howley connected from the start with senior setter Indigo Kelly. Peruzzi finished with a match-high 17 kills and 15 digs and also tallied two blocks. Howley added nine kills and five blocks, while Kelly made 43 assists. Sophomore outside Paola Jacobs made 13 kills and served a stretch of nine points, including four straight aces in the fourth set. Junior opposite Eleanor Harrington added eight kills and seven digs.
The real star may have been Dasbach-Prisk, even if her stats of nine digs and one ace don’t show it. Numerous one-handed, outstretched saves by the sophomore kept rallies and hope alive for the Hawks and forced the Cardinals to re-route their championship aspirations.
“I’m happy,” Dasbach-Prisk said. “When you win, there’s this feeling of relief that washes over you. There’s all these emotions. Ahhh.”
Contact Julie Jag at 831-706-3257.
