Rivals square off at net

Lady Gauchos hold off T-Girls in spirited volleyball match.|

Casa Grande rallied in the important deciding set to edge crosstown foe Petaluma, 3-2, in front of a noisy gathering in the Casa’s Coach Ed Iacopi Gymnasium on Tuesday evening.

The victory improves the Casa record in the new Vine Valley Athletic League to 3-1, and the Gauchos remain one game out of first place in the first round of play. Justin-Siena of Napa leads the league with a perfect mark of 5-0 after knocking off Vintage, 3-2.

With student body cheering sections from both teams in full throat, the Gauchos fell behind after the first set that was taken by the T-Girls, 25-23, when outside hitter Hannah Dillingham slammed one into the open floor that the Gauchos could not return.

The momentum of the match then completely swung in favor of the Lady Gauchos, who convincingly won set Nos. 2-3 by scores of 25-19 and 25-16. Sophomore Lina Fakalata began to find the range with several unreturnable hard shots to the back of the T-Girl defense. It appeared that the end was near.

Surprisingly, the visiting Trojans mustered renewed energy behind the hitting of Dillingham and 5-foot, 11-inch junior Emma Weiand, and they grabbed a quick 8-1 advantage in the fourth set.

Strong digging and sets by Kaleigh Weiand and Maria Soares helped along the way as Petaluma led from start to finish. The Trojans closed it out, 25-20, on a short placement by Lily Paschoal. The most impressive dig of the match was a floor hugging save of an attempted Fakalata kill by Soares.

As the fourth set progressed it became apparent that Casa Grande was getting some notable work on the opposite corner of the net from the heavy-hitting Fakalata. The new face on the team was Simone Wright, who alternated big kills with Fakalata as the Gauchos cut the margin to 22-20 before the Trojans scored three consecutive points to send the match into the sudden-death 15-point final set.

Wright, a transfer player, was playing in her first game because of CIF restrictions on athletic transfers. She made a difference, and many of her hard shots went for points in both of the final two sets.

Casa left no doubt down the stretch by rushing to a commanding 12-7 advantage behind Fakalata and some energetic all-around play by Kaitlyn Wong. Fakalata had five kills in the deciding set.

A strong placement shot by Sam Dedrickson and an ace by Wong gave the Gauchos a 14-7 lead, and Casa fans were smelling victory. A couple of plays later, Fakalata found the open space with an overhead smash, and the issue was decided, 15-9, and Casa supporters found reason to rush the floor to celebrate.

Dillingham had 14 kills for Petaluma, while teammate Emma Weiand added nine. The Trojans host Justin-Siena on Thursday at 6 p.m.

Casa Grande temporarily won city volleyball bragging rights by improving to 4-4 overall, but the two evenly matched clubs will meet again in the T-Girls’ gym on Oct. 11. Petaluma slipped to 2-2 in league play and 4-10 for the season.

In the exciting junior varsity match, Petaluma rebounded from a poor second set to get past the Gauchos in the third set to win 2-1.

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