Fullerton, Calif. - In 31 previous victories this season, two-time defending state champion Los Angeles Pierce College never faced adversity. That was until Saturday night in an epic winner's bracket final as the Brahmas survived an assault by the South 2-seeded Rustlers to win in five sets. Pierce extended its winning streak to 65 matches going back to 2010.
LA Pierce had won 93 of 95 sets going into the match, then found itself in unfamiliar territory, falling behind 1-0 and 2-1 in sets before rallying. Pierce (32-0) will play in the championship final Sunday at 3:30 p.m. while Golden West (23-4) will wait to see who wins between North 1 Fresno City v. North 2 Santa Rosa match (10 a.m.). The Golden West match takes place at 1 p.m. Golden West used outstanding passing, defense and continued its strong hitting attack from its sweep over Fresno City earlier in the day to take the early advantage over Pierce. The Rustlers hit .323 in set 1, .355 in set 2, and .325 in set 3 as MB Bethanee Boggs powered all 15 of her kills. However, Boggs didn't record a kill in either the fourth or fifth game. The Rustlers smelled upset as they took a 12-8 lead in the fourth set. A timeout by Pierce was followed by the Brahmas winning a sideout point. Pierce head coach Nabil Mardini inserted reserve outside hitter Brittani Elser, one of his strongest servers. The freshman Elser proceeded with a phenomenal run as she recorded four straight aces to give Pierce a 14-12 lead. A kill by setter Janelle Futch would cap a fourth set win for Pierce and move the team to its first 5-set match of the year and first since last year's state tournament.
In the fifth set, Pierce took an 8-5 lead on an ace by libero Brooke Dawson. Golden West cut it to 10-8 on a kill by Alyssa Hubbard. The Brahmas finally pulled away with a pair of kills by All-American OH Danetta Boykin. A Golden West attack error closed out the match and Pierce's winning streak stayed alive. "No question that the whole match turned around because of Elser's serves," Mardini said. "I didn't even tell her where to serve. When were down 2-1, I told the girls that we've practiced situations like this one and prepared as if we were down in practices all year. We picked up the momentum from Elser and then seized control in the last two sets. Golden West passed extremely well and played a great match. I expect to see them again in the finals." Overall, Elser served seven of Pierce's 14 aces in the match to just three for Golden West. The Brahmas overcame 15 service errors while Golden West had 12 serve mistakes. Boykin had her second 22-kill match, but showed fatigue with 10 attack errors (a season worst for her). Pierce's other All-American OH Saku Fujii recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 17 digs while Dawson contributed 23 digs and five aces. Setter Janelle Futch had a powerful match using her dumping and net skills to notch eight kills (10 attempts) as she distributed 45 assists.
For Golden West, OH Saelina Dunn scored 16 kills, Boggs 15 and Hubbard 13. OH Alicia Utke added nine kills and 13 digs. Setter Jade Gray tallied 54 assists and libero Cori O'Donoghue made 20 digs and served two aces. GW would outhit Pierce, .259 to .228, but Pierce hit .276 in the crucial fifth set while the Rustlers showed their fatigue at .038. The Rustlers saw their modest 11-match win streak end. Pierce played Golden West after just an hour-and-15-minute break following its sweep over Santa Rosa.
Sunday's Schedule, Round 2
10 am—Match 4--Santa Rosa v. Fresno City (loser takes 4th place)
1 pm—Match 5--Winner of match 4 v. Golden West (loser takes 3rd place)
3:30 pm—Match 6—Winner of match 5 v. LA Pierce (if match 5 winner wins, state title would be determined by a 1-set winner take all for state title).
