Union Mine girls take out Grizzlies in three

GARDEN VALLEY — It was an intra-county matchup Thursday between two solid volleyball programs as seventh-seed Union Mine traveled up the hill to battle second-seed Golden Sierra in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV quarterfinal playoff match.

One way or another, one group of seniors wouldn't advance. With the Diamondbacks' 25-18, 25-11, 25-23 victory, the prep volleyball careers of Kaylee Schrader, Brittany Tillotson, Caitlin Hess and Katie Christner came to a close. Union Mine moves on to host Tuesday's semifinals against Bret Harte at the Snake Pit.

“Both teams had the physical ability and talent to win this match tonight,” D'back coach Mike Yates said. “We were able to maintain our focus and composure; that was the difference tonight.

Thursday's match featured two of the area’s premier players: Mikayla Tucker and Grizzly Katie Christner and both showed why they'll play at the college level next year. While Tucker and Co. played to win, the partisan crowd had little to cheer about as the Garden Valley team played tentatively.

Golden Sierra opened the match on-serve and Tiffany Grey took a second-touch dump over the block for a quick 1-0 lead — the last time Union Mine trailed until the third set. Four Grizzly errors had the D'backs up 4-1 before Caitlin Hess put down a kill on the slide to cut the lead. Christner’s kill off the block followed by a Hess block tied the score but Tucker’s back row kill put Union Mine back up and ignited a 13-2 run that had Grizzly coach Justin Cox calling for time.

Jamie Hinton got the Grizzlies a much-needed sideout with a kill off the tape and Christner, recovering from a bout of flu, followed it up with an ace to get Golden Sierra back on-track as it outscored Union Mine 11-4 to close within four at 21-17. It wasn’t enough though as Union Mine took the opening set on four Grizzly errors and Jacqueline Swarbrick’s quick attack in the middle.

The D'backs opened the second set on serve and built an early 6-1 lead behind three kills from Tucker and unforced errors from Golden Sierra. Union Mine had Golden Sierra doubled up 18-9 behind Lea Howton’s kill, two quick attacks from Swarbrick, tenacious defense and more Grizzly miscues. The D'backs closed on two Tucker kills and Andrea Barnes tip over the block to switch the benches.

With their season on the line, the Grizzlies regrouped and opened the third set with a 5-1 run. Union Mine answered with its own run to catch the Griz and from there, the two squads battled through seven ties and four lead changes.

“I was trying my best, but my energy level wasn’t where it usually is, but I gave it my all,” Christner said. “We had far too many unforced errors, could not pass and we did a poor job keeping them out of system.”

With Golden Sierra up 12-11 Christner’s dig of a Tucker attack ricocheted off the ceiling, hit the drawn-up backboard and swished through the basket to elicit a round of applause from those in attendance. Andrea Barnes and Swarbrick both landed kills from the right side to push the D'backs' lead out to 19-16 but Abigail Wever got one back on her quick attack from the middle.

The teams traded sideouts until two Union Mine errors and Hess’ block on Tucker made it a one point game at 22-21. Two kills from Christner sandwiched around a Grizzly error had the Grizzlies within 24-23 but with the match on the line, Golden Sierra’s season ended with a hitting error.

Tucker led Union Mine with 15 kills and a block while Swarbrick had eight kills. For the Grizzlies, Christner had 16 kills, two aces, a block and 10 digs; Hess chipped in with four kills and three blocks.

“I wasn’t sure how she (Christner) was going to be tonight, due to her illness,” Cox said. “But they (Union Mine) couldn’t stop Katie when we could get the ball to her; we just had a really hard time getting her the ball.”