Team reaches championship round before losing only match
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RANCHO CORDOVA >> The Never Say Die 18s club volleyball team advanced all the way to the championship match before losing to Diablo of Concord during a tournament Saturday at the Core Facility in Rancho Cordova.
The Never Say Die 17s also took part, going 1-3.
For the 18s, five straight wins preceded the lost to Diablo. NSD won its pool with victories against Core (Rancho Cordova), the NSD 17s and Red Rock (Redwood City). Advancing to bracket play, the 18s beat San (Santa Cruz) and Team Beasts (Arcata) before losing to Diablo.
“The girls played great and played well as a team,” NSD head coach Marci Psalmonds said. “Everyone contributed in every match. They are doing a great job relying on each other to get the job done. Both setters Emily Gersalia and Ashlyn Klein distributed the ball well to their hitters and gave them plenty of chances to succeed all day.”
Olivia Hommer racked up a team-best 36 kills to go along with 36 digs. Carly Johnson added 28 kills and a team-best 11 blocks, and Aimee Schaefers had 18 kills and four blocks. Other team leaders were Gersalia with a team-high 59 assists as well as 29 digs; Klein with 46 assists and 27 digs; Mati Mateer with a team-best 41 digs as well as seven kills and five aces; Cali Schnabl with a team-best 78 digs and seven aces; Beverly Fetters with 21 digs and eight kills; Brooke Benson with eight kills and three blocks; and Jordyn Wurm with nine kills.
“We were pretty exhausted in game six (the loss to Diablo) and ran out of gas, but they still pushed through but just came up short for the win,” Psalmonds said.
The 17s lost their first two matches – to Red Rock and the NSD 18s – before beating Core for their only win of the day. They lost to Enspire (Pleasant Hill) in their final match.
“The 17s worked hard all day and we are still working out some kinks,” Psalmonds said. “They have taken a little longer than the 18s on find their chemistry. We are looking forward to this coming weekend on getting everyone on the same page.”
Individual stats for the 17s were not available.
All three NSD teams are in action next weekend as the 15s travel to Turlock while the 17s and 18s play in Sacramento.
