Casa Grande volleyball girls fall to Vintage

The Vine Valley Athletic League’s top team, Vintage, made quick work of host Casa Grande with a convincing 3-0 volleyball win in Coach Ed Iacopi Gym last week. The Lady Crushers led most of the way, winning 25-14, 25-19, and 25-17 ?to maintain a one-game lead in ?the league standings over ?second-place Petaluma, Justin-Siena and Sonoma Valley.

The 6-foot duo of Maddie Klungel and Julia Budor helped form a strong wall across the center of the net most of the way, and the frustrated Gauchos could never match their hard-hit shots and occasional short dink placements. Vintage made few unforced errors in the match.

Klungel, the top setter for the Crushers, will be headed to Cal State Northridge next volleyball season.

Vintage jumped ahead, 9-4, in the first set on a ringing kill by Budor that found open space at the end line, and the Crushers never looked back.

Casa responded with crowd-?pleasing, hard-hit kills by Lina Fakalata and some occasional solid hits from the corner by teammate Bella Blue to stay in range, but the Gauchos could never close the gap.

One long rally got the Gaucho fans buzzing on some acrobatic shots by Blue and Simone Wright to cut the advantage to 21-14, but Vintage ran off the final four points to win easing away.

Vintage not only had the strong kill shots by Budor, but also had a front line that was able to find open areas of the floor behind the Casa forwards with short dink shots that fell for points.

With Crusher coach Kelly Porter calling the placement of every Vintage service, the team from Napa was never threatened. Knuckling balls served by the Vintage back court appeared to have eyes, and many balls were unreturnable.

The second set was the most competitive, with Casa knotting things up at 13-13 on a kill from the left side of the net by Blue. Porter felt her team was victimized by a phantom call by the line judge, but she was finally talked out of pursuing any further debate by the official.

Vintage made things easier for its coach by ripping off five consecutive points and a big kill by sophomore Caitlin Kenney.

Fakalata, Blue and Wright had some occasional big hits for the Gauchos, but the hosts appeared gassed down the stretch, and fell, 25-17, in the final set.

Casa also got a good defensive effort from junior libero Savana Sutton, who made several solid digs of hard-hit balls around her feet.

There was plenty of fire on the Casa Grande side of the net at game time, and the Gauchos had a spirited pre-game workout before the beginning of the match.

“We have to want it,” said coach Amber Taylor. “A win over these girls would help all the contenders in the Vine Valley League.”

The Gauchos (6-9) gave a physical effort but fell victim to several three- and four-point runoffs by the Crushers.

Taylor emptied the bench down the stretch when the Crushers pulled away, and she got a couple of winners at the center of the net by freshmen Jamie Mcgaughey and Zoe Kelly.

Hope for an upset began to fade in the final minutes of the match.

Vintage improved to 6-1 in league and 14-4 for the season. The versatile Crushers are currently listed as the No. 8 team in NCS Division 1 rankings.