By: Krissy Hetherington
After celebrating five seniors and their high school careers, Redwood won in the fourth set against their biggest rival, El Diamante (20-10, 6-3) on Tuesday, October 22. Redwood’s undefeated streak is the first in a long time for the team. The team sealed the win and the West Yosemite League Championship with one more game to play before playoffs.
“Unlike some other sports, volleyball requires a total team atmosphere. We have a great, hard-working and gritty team this season…It has taken all 12 girls to get this team WYL Championship,” head coach Alana Montgomery said, who has led the team to win five out of the last seven WYL championships.
Maddy Tamayo had 29 kills and Mia Gilcrest had 25. Abby Billingsley had 23 assists and Karey Roriguez 20. Andrea Jauregui had 16 digs and Kylie Cekalski had 3 blocks.
Last time the two teams faced off at El Diamante, Redwood also sealed the win in the fourth set in late September. This time, after winning the first and second sets 25-18 and 24-14, El Diamante made a valiant effort to comeback.
“In practice we not only work on team skills but we work a lot on individual skills to better the team. We push them hard in practice to simulate a game-like experience and also to get and keep them in volleyball shape,” Montgomery said. ”Against a good team like El Diamante, sometimes it comes down to determination, grit and mental fortitude.”
El Diamante slowly poked at Redwood’s lead and it became a battle of team captains. Back and forth, the teams did not allow the lead to get greater than 1. In the set point, El Diamante’s Carli Gordon went up for a kill and proved the Miners shouldn’t be counted out.
In the fourth set, El Diamante started with a 5-2 lead but Redwood quickly tied it up again and slowly but surely began to pull away from the still hopeful Miners.
To end the set in 25-16, Tamayo had two crucial kills for the last two points in the WYL Championship win.
“Winning the fourth set made me feel like all the hard work this season has paid off and being able to finish it for my team was a big moment for me and my high school career,” said Cal State Monterey Bay commit, Maddy Tamayo, ‘20.
According to Maxpreps, Redwood has won 89 total sets this season and only 6 sets lost. Tamayo led the team with 498 kills and 50 serving aces, Cekalski totaled 65 blocks, Jauregui had 332 digs as well as 416 receptions as the team’s libero, and Karey Rodriguez led the team with 400 assists.
After the El Diamante win, the Rangers captured another win in the fourth set against Mt. Whitney on Thursday, October 24th. This game capped off their regular season resulting in an overall 37-0 record and perfect league record of 10-0. Their first playoff game will be announced this weekend.