NCS VOLLEYBALL: San Marin kills Petaluma playoff hopes at the net

Twelfth-rated San Marin gathered momentum midway through the first set to hammer the Petaluma T-Girls out of the North Coast Section Division III playoffs with a 3-0 shutout on Tuesday. The Lady Mustangs (16-14) advanced to the second round of single-elimination play on Saturday against Alhambra of the Diablo Athletic League.

Alhambra got past Analy in three close sets in a match played in Martinez.

The visiting San Marin netters broke away against fifth-seeded Petaluma in the opening set to lead, 23-17, before the Trojans closed it to 23-20 on a Hannah Dillingham kill. The hosts got no closer after a strategic time out by Mustang coach Jesse Denham.

Sophomore Kelsey Bergerson slammed a couple of points into the heart of the T-Girl defense, and San Marin captured the opening set, 25-20, and set the tone for the balance of the match.

From that point, it was all Mustangs, and they aggressively took the play away from Petaluma, winning most contested balls at the center of the net. San Marin took the second set, 25-16, and breezed down the stretch to close it out, 25-12.

“I’m not sure we peaked at the end of the season,” said a realistic Petaluma coach Ryan Hughes. “The girls did play very well this year. It was the best record by a Petaluma team in the last five seasons. San Marin played in a very strong volleyball league this season.”

Senior outside hitting specialist Sianna DeCarli finished her high school career with guns blazing as she had six kills in the competitive opening set. DeCarli continued her aggressive play with crowd-pleasing rockets throughout the match, but the T-Girls could not match the accurate placement of shots in response made by the entire San Marin squad.

DeCarli, the top offensive weapon all season for the T-Girls, finished with 12 kills.

In the second set, junior Grace Ghiradelli contributed a kill at the middle of the net and she followed it with a couple of serves for points but it was too late for the T-Girls to salvage the set. At one point they trailed 21-9.

San Marin continued to pull away by making strong placements that left diving Petaluma defenders out of position. Hannah Wheless scrambled from front to the back of the scoring area, and made several digs, but the Lady Mustangs kept the pressure on by keeping the ball in play. Wheless again had a solid defensive outing.

The Mustangs fell behind briefly in the third set after another opening kill by DeCarli, but quickly regained the advantage at 11-5 on scoring shots by Bergerson and Emily O’Brien. San Marin routinely had a wall of blockers up front to frustrate Petaluma attempts at an offensive comeback.

Petaluma got consistent efforts from senior assist leader Julianna Bertolucci and teammate Jordan Marshall, but San Marin had too much total team fire power with many players contributing to the victory.

The T-Girls did not adjust to the superior ball movement by the Mustangs, and the season ended for Petaluma with a winning overall mark of 15-9 and a second-place finish in the Sonoma County League.

Makiah Brumbaugh had a team high 22 assists for San Marin.