Trojans thump Tigers

The Petaluma T-Girls forged into the championship game of the Sonoma County League volleyball tournament with a dominating three-straight-set win over rival Analy.|

The Petaluma T-Girls forged into the championship game of the Sonoma County League volleyball tournament with a dominating three-straight-set win over rival Analy on Tuesday in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.

With the victory the T-Girls earned another crack at league champion Sonoma Valley, but it will be difficult test on the road Thursday on the Dragon floor. Sonoma has captured both meetings this season, but the matches have been very close. Sonoma bumped off fourth- place Healdsburg, 3-0, Tuesday night.

Petaluma is presently ranked 10th in the NCS playoff rankings by Max Preps. Analy was rated 12th before the match began.

“If we beat Sonoma it could affect our placement in the Division III playoffs for sure,” explained Petaluma coach Ryan Hughes. “It might be possible to earn a home game when the North Coast Section playoffs begin next week. Our recent loss to Healdsburg didn’t help our chances.”

The solid win over Analy was the third this season, and it boosted the T-Girl overall record to 14-6. The two teams tied for second place in the SCL, but Petaluma hosted the first round by beating Analy in both games of league play. Analy was the only team to defeat champion Sonoma Valley this season.

The turning point of the match came during the second set when Petaluma rallied from a 15-11 deficit to outscore the visitors 15-2 to run away with the victory. With Julianna Bertolucci jump serving at a frantic pace, the T-Girls completely took the play away from Analy, and sprinted to a 25-17 win in the set. Bertolucci continually found openings in the Tiger defense with hard services that skimmed over the top of the net into open spaces. The versatile senior additionally led all players the game with 33 assists.

Big hits at the net by Grace Ghiradelli, Sianna DeCarli and Hannah Dillingham could not be returned by the scrambling Lady Tiger defenders. DeCarli was again a force from the left side of the net where she hit a series of solid kills and she led the T-Girls with 13.

Player rotations on the T-Girl side of the net got them in position to return many hard hit kill attempts by frustrated Analy hitters. Hustling setter Hannah Wheless had one of her better efforts with several acrobatic digs that were turned into points by Petaluma. Wheless got into position to keep the ball alive for her hard-hitting teammates who pulled away in all three sets.

Analy (13-9) battled back behind the play of Korina Pierson in the final set to knot the contest at 20-20 before Petaluma closed it out. Junior Grace Ghiradelli added to her block at the middle of the net with some solid serves to end the final set 25-22.

The T-Girls struggled throughout the first set and found themselves tied at 22-22 before a short placement shot by Eden Garvisch sparked a three-point rally.

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