T-Girls come up short

Petaluma saved its best for last, but it wasn’t good enough as the T-Girls volleyball team was eliminated by the Acalanes Dons, 3-0, in the first round of the North Coast Section Division 3 playoffs, 3-0, Tuesday night in the Petaluma gym.

Never was a 3-0 game score more deceiving. Twice, Petaluma battled back from early deficits to take sets to their ultimate before losing, 26-24 and 25-23. Down two sets to none, the third was an anticlimactic 25-18 end to the T-Girl season.

T-Girl coach Ryan Hughes was disappointed with the loss but not with the T-Girls’ performance.

“You never like to lose, especially in the first round of the playoffs, but we really played well,” said Hughes. “We played one of the best games of our season. We played a great team and lost 26-24 and 25-23.”

Petaluma, with the loss, finished 18-6 for the season and 10-2 in second place in the Sonoma County League.

In their final game, the T-Girls received inspired efforts from Hannah Dillingham and Greta Grassi, each of whom had nine kills, with most coming at critical times during the heart-pounding first two sets.

Reliable Jaden Krist also was a factor for the T-Girls, not only up front where she had eight kills, but also as a dependable back-court player starting many of the game’s extended rallies.

Libero Claire Tuscher was her usual standout self, preventing Acalanes from capitalizing on its strong serves.

Acalanes countered, and ultimately prevailed, with its own big and strong front line led by 5-11 Grace Higgine, 6-0 Madi Rusch and 6-3 Theresa Nevens.

Led by Nevens, Acalanes started the first set with a 5-1 lead before Petaluma, sparked by inspired play from Grassi, got started and tied the match at 11-11.

After that, it was a scramble to the finish, with Petaluma twice staving off match-point situations before a tip over the net by Risch and an ace serve finally gave Acalanes the 26-24 win and a leg up on tournament advancement.

The second set was hurtingly similar for the T-Girls, who fell behind 9-2 to start and gradually dug themselves out of the hole behind the power hitting of Grassi and Krist. Still, the Dons managed to hold the lead most of the way until Dillingham finally slammed home a kill to tie the match at 20-20.

Down the stretch it was tied at 22 and again at 23 before Acalanes moved ahead on a little dink over the net by the muscular Nevens and a double block of a T-Girl hit that closed out a 25-23 win.

It also all but officially closed out the game win for the visitors.

The T-Girls, facing the inevitable, were never really in the third set, falling behind, 14-7, and trailing by six or seven points the rest of the way.

Final win

Petaluma celebrated Senior Night in its final Sonoma County League game of the season with a 3-0 win over El Molino.

The match was closer than the three-game sweep indicates. Petaluma won the first set, 25-18, but had to battle to win the second, 25-23, and work overtime to win the third, 28-26.

Tuscher was the backbone for the T-Girls, delivering stellar passes on nearly every serve. Her passing and flawless defensive play led to many setups that were delivered for points by her teammates.

Krist delivered 14 kills for Petaluma, while Grassi had eight and Grace Ghirardelli seven.

Seniors Ghirardelli, Tuscher, Whitney Royall and Grassi were honored before the game.