Mustang girls fall in five-set net battle

Redwood Christian managed to climb off the deck in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 5 volleyball playoffs, and the Lady Eagles knocked off St. Vincent, 3-2, in a marathon match on Tuesday in DeCarli Gym.

The 11th-seeded Eagles from San Lorenzo quickly fell behind when they dropped the first two sets, 25-13 and 25-21. They rallied behind the power hitting of Aliyah Afoa and captain Ify Nwebube to jump back into the contest. Afoa had four kills in the third set.

A six-point run by the Eagles in the second set almost turned the contest around earlier in the competition before the Mustangs nailed it down with a placement to an open space on the right side of the floor.

The highly competitive contest was evenly played from the opening serve with neither team opening big margins. Long rallies were common as the match stretched toward the 2½-hour mark.

Overall, the Eagles won it with some energetic play, but the North Central League II champion Lady Mustangs made a contest of it until the final hit sailed wide of the mark.

St. Vincent had two opportunities to clinch the match in the pivotal fourth set when the Mustangs had a one-point lead with only a serve to win it. In both cases, long rallies fell short for the hosts, and the match went on.

With the win, the Eagles advanced to the quarterfinal round on Saturday against Waldorf of San Francisco in the city. Redwood improved to 19-14 overall. Waldorf knocked off Bentley 3-0.

Junior outside hitter Alyssa Kropelnicki had a terrific outing for the Lady Mustangs, knocking home key kills to keep her club in the hunt until the final set. Kropelnicki consistently found openings in the Redwood defense, and she delivered the ball into scoring space with kills and soft dinks.

Olivia Gergus was the chief point maker in the first set with left-handed placements for points from the center of the net. The Eagles didn’t adjust to the different angles of Gergus kill attempts until late in the fourth set.

The ball was kept in play by consistent Eva Clark, who roamed from left to right and made many digs to give her teammates an opportunity to score. Clark was very versatile, and she made very few passing mistakes. Co-captain Alana Kalehua also made many solid returns.

Clark got solid help from Isabella Souza and Margaret Coll, who played a stronger game when the Eagles climbed back into the contest. Souza led the team in the important dig column for the entire season.

Kropelnicki, Gergus and improved sophomore Amanda Zeryny all contributed key kills and placement as the contest was always in doubt.

The Lady Mustangs tied with Roseland University Prep for the North Central II championship when it was decided that missed games because of the recent fires would not be made up. St. Vincent was awarded the No. 1 NCL II placement in the playoffs because of its victory in head-to-head competition with Roseland.

St. Vincent ended its season with a notable 13-1 league record and 16-6 overall. The Lady Mustangs were coached for the season by Chris Clark.