Grizzlies take over 1st place

GRIZZLY Jamie Hinton, pictured against Union Mine, finished with 14 kills Wednesday night. Democrat photo by Pat Dollins

GARDEN VALLEY — Wednesday’s volleyball match between host Golden Sierra and Vacaville Christian was big … it just didn’t feel big.

The Grizzlies took the match in three sets, avenged their lone Sierra Delta League loss and in so doing, took over first place in the standings. Golden Sierra didn’t need its ‘A’ game to subdue the Falcons 25-18, 25-19, 25-19; the Griz’ low-intensity effort did the trick.

“This was a big game but our intensity wasn’t there like we had against Bradshaw Christian,” Golden Sierra coach Justin Cox said about the team’s 5-set win at Bradshaw Christian. “We knew we had the advantage. Last time at their (Vacaville Christian) place we didn’t play well but tonight we had the firepower.”

With Tiffany Grey (25 assists) running the offense, the Griz (9-1) had the ability to score at will. Defensively, they let the Falcons (7-2) stick around too long before turning to a late-set push to finish the job.

Jamie Hinton led the Golden Sierra attack with 14 kills while Kaleigh Brothers chipped in with seven off the bench and Abigail Wever had six.

“Just good passing and great sets that allowed me to get my timing down,” Hinton said.

Brothers’ early hitting in the middle set, one an in-your-face spike, kept the Grizzlies in front. Tristan Nedeigh’s save leading to Hinton’s tap-down broke an 11-11 tie and preceded Kourtney Brothers’ four-point run on serve as Golden Sierra seperated.

Vacaville came back but Kaleigh’s kill stopped its momentum and with Kensie Clark serving, Jordyn Condit set Hinton for the game-winner.

Hinton’s running tap over the Falcons’ block broke a 19-19 score in the third set and Wever served out the set, landing three aces, to complete the sweep.

Wever had four aces total along with six kills and four blocks. Kourtney had three aces while Paige Murchison had 25 serve receives and nine digs; Grey had 17 digs, Hinton, 13, and Kaleigh, 6.

GRIZZLY Jamie Hinton, pictured against Union Mine, finished with 14 kills Wednesday night. Democrat photo by Pat Dollins

Jerry Heinzer

Jerry Heinzer is going on 12 years as an employee of the Mountain Democrat and is currently the Sports Editor. Contact Jerry at 530-344-5074 or jheinzer@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @ JHeinzerMtDemo on Twitter.

View all my stories Email Me JHeinzerMtDemo