THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

It may hold true that it’s easier to avenge a loss than it is to repeat a victory, following Whitney High girls volleyball loss to St. Francis Saturday night. The No. 6 seed Troubadours took to the floor in Round 2 of the Northern California Regional Playoffs and stunned No. 3 Whitney 3-1 and eliminated the Wildcats from contention. The ‘Cats’ had defeated St. Francis twice before, 2-0 in the Super 8 Tournament Oct. 8 and 3-1 in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinal Nov. 8. “I think it was mindset. (St. Francis) came out really, really aggressive. We kind of matched them unforced error for unforced error, but they came out firing,” said Wildcats head coach Jeff LaShell. “I mean, they were just swinging for the fences on every swing, which put us back on our heels.” The two powerhouse clubs went blow-for-blow in the first two sets. St. Francis took the first set 25-20 and the ‘Cats came back to take set two 25-23. There was never more than a five-point separation between them in either game. Set three was no different. The Wildcats held a side-out edge, leading 12-7 at one point. But at the 21-21 mark the Troubadours took over for a 25-22 victory and Whitney’s back was against the wall. “We didn’t recover as well as we have all season. We’ve been very, very resilient,” LaShell said. “So I think we lost a little bit of the edge. They put us back on our heels and we didn’t recover as well as we have all season and that cost us.” The fourth set was all St. Francis. After falling behind 4-7 early in the set the ‘Cats simply could not claw back into it. Troubadour freshman Alexa Edwards began controlling the net, hammering home at least eight of her 33 total kills. St. Francis matched Whitney’s total number of attacks, but recorded 16 more kills. Macey Hayden drove home 23 kills, had five blocks, 16 digs and received 38 serves. “It’s going to be real tough to replace our seniors,” said LaShell. “I mean Macey is two-time MVP; the girl’s been an absolute stud and she does it in practice. She and Ellie are always the hardest workers in practice.” “Ellie” is libero Ellie Basquez. The senior received 31 serves, had 25 digs and led the team with 18 serves and two aces. Whitney junior Kaitlin Bullock had eight kills and senior Gabrielle Roberts six. Senior Camryn “Cammie” Good steps down with 920 total assists this season. Unofficially, it appears Good’s effort broke the school record of 794 set by Lainey Basquez in 2011. Against St. Francis, sophomore Kaylie Honberger recorded 15 serves and an ace, Hayden 14 serves and two aces and freshman Aubrey Miller had 14 serves and once ace. Trailing Hayden in total blocks for the season was Ashley Williams. The sophomore had 32 total blocks to Hayden’s 60. Saturday, Miller also had 13 digs, Bullock eight, Good six and Honberger five. “The seniors led the way; they worked their butts off all year. All I had to do was just kind of not get in their way,” LaShell said. “But we have great athletes coming up behind them, so we’ll try to train them up and see where we go.” Valley Christian 3, Rocklin 0 It took 37 matches to end the Rocklin volleyball team season, but the Bay Area’s Valley Christian proved to be a hurdle too high Saturday. After dropping the first set 13-25, the Thunder rallied but could do better than 19-25, 19-25 in the final two sets. The No. 2 seeded Warriors advance in the Northern California Regional Tournament to play No. 6 St. Francis.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Whitney High School Athletics

WHITNEY’S RECORD RUN COMES TO AN END

JIM LINSDAU

Placer Herald | 11/23/2016

PHOTO CREDIT: Whitney High School Athletics