State Women's Volleyball Quarterfinal #3: Feather River hit show sweeps LA Mission
N3 Feather River (35-1) d. S2 Los Angeles Mission (26-5), 3-0, 25-19, 25-14, 25-15
LA Mission finishes in a fifth place tie at state
FOLSOM -- The juggernaut known as North #3 seed Feather River College started out in its defense for a possible second straight state title with a dominating sweep over South #2 Los Angeles Mission in the third quarterfinal of the 3C2A Women's Volleyball Championships on Friday afternoon.
Ironically, the last time there were back-to-back state crowns were performed under the direction of LA Mission head coach Nabil Mardini, who won three straight at LA Pierce from 2010-2012.
Feather River ran its winnning streak to 16 matches and eliminated Mission in a tidy 71 minutes thanks to the high-energy play of hitters in First Team All-American Chloe Albiez, last year's tourney MVP, and All-NorCal Carol Manu as the two hitters slammed hard kills through the middle of LAM's defense.
The FRC hit machine made just five attack errors and had an impressive .443 percentage (44 kills in 88 attempts) as Albiez rifled 17 kills (.441 and a team-high nine digs) while Manu floored 13 (.393) with four aces and three blocks. Madison Millanes added five kills in six swings and Mia Rivera placed six kills in nine attacks plus five block assists. Third Team All-American setter Teya Gibbs distributed 34 assists with three aces and two kills.
In the opening set, the Golden Eagles rolled behind the play of the heavy-hitting Albiez (six kills) and Manu (five kills). Albiez's overpass kill made it 15-9 before LAM's Alana Veillesse scored a kill that cut it to 18-15. After a few attack errors by the Eagles, FRC closed out the set on kill to the back row by Albiez.
Albiez set Manu for a powerful point and a 6-0 lead to open the second set and Gibbs flipped an ace to up it to 8-0. FRC built a 19-9 lead on Manu's ace and Albiez's back-line bomb made it 22-13. Albiez pounded another kill and then fired an ace for the 11-point victory and a 2-0 sets lead.
In the third, Manu hit a three of a kind in dealing three straight aces for a 14-8 Feather River lead. Consecutive kills by Millanes built it to 18-10. Rivera did the rest with three kills and two blocks and the match-point kill.
"We were so prepared and we watched more film than I think we've ever had, but that's because you have to be fully prepared to face such a phenomenal coach in Nabil who prepares his teams the same way," said Feather River head coach Sarah Ritchie, who has three state titles to her credit since 2019.
"I think we played so well out of system and then our hitters throughout our lineup played great. We call her ESPN Chloe and she steps up in big moments and today she passed so well too. All of our hitters executed at a high level. We came into this tourney with pressure that we didn't have when we won last year. So we think we're up to the challenge of that pressure to repeat."
For LA Mission, Tawnie Ohrt scored nine kills (hit .381), Madison "Maddie" Perry had eight kills, and Rio Sandaiji tallied six kills.
Mardini said: "People have no idea how hard it is to make it to state, especially in the South. It says a lot about our sophomores that they got us this far twice. Feather River is just a physical team at the net. We have a good defense but they controlled every aspect of the match. This might be their best team."
Feather River faces the winner of the fourth quarterfinal between North #1 San Joaquin Delta and South #4 Long Beach City in the state semifinals on Saturday.
Release by Robert Lewis, CCCWVCA/3C2A State Tournament SID