It was playoff-level atmosphere at the West Ranch gym as the Wildcats hosted Saugus in a battle between two teams who were tied for first place in the Foothill League.
In the end, West Ranch swept Saugus in straight sets, 25-17, 25-18, 25-18, and took sole possession of first place in the league standings.
“We respond to a challenge really well,” West Ranch head coach Jamey Ker said. “The reality is this game’s been circled on our calendar for a while. We knew it was going to be our first real challenge of league, and the girls show up, couldn’t wait to stamp them down, and show them how good we are.”
The Wildcats (8-3, 4-0) opened the first set with a commanding 6-2 lead over Saugus (18-4, 3-1) after Dani Clewis landed a kill. But Saugus responded, cutting its deficit to 9-8 following a kill from Valerie Mejia.
The Wildcats extended their lead over the Centurions by four at 15-11 after Grace Kelly came down with a kill. But again, Saugus scored four unawered points over West Ranch’s defense to tie the set back up at 15 apiece.
Clewis followed up the Saugus comeback with an explosive kill that gave the Wildcats back the lead over the Centurions at 16-15 and prompted Saugus head coach Zachary Ambrose to call a timeout.
“She’s a constant leader by example, leader by vocalization, leader emotionally, she’s just constantly there,” Ker said of Clewis. “She never takes a play off, never takes a match off, that’s for sure. She really just is the heartbeat of the team and she continues to dominate for us.”
The Wildcats went on a 9-2 scoring run, with Kelley and Lola Van Why closing out the first set to secure the victory.
In the second set, Saugus took a 10-5 lead over West Ranch following an ace from Taylor Stires. Despite the early lead, West Ranch clawed back to tie the set at 13 apiece after an ace from Karleigh Larson.
“The best thing about Karleigh right now is there’s just a lot of dynamic way that she’s moving right now,” Ker said “She’s kind of jumping into this new phase of athleticism that I think has been really beneficial to her overall game.”
Another Larson ace extended West Ranch’s lead over Saugus to 16-13, and the Widlcats never looked back. The Wildcats finished up the second set with a Devyn Kobe kill and contrinued their momentum onto the third set.
The Centurions took a 5-2 lead in the third set right away after a hitting error from the Wildcats’ offense.
But following a kill from Clewis, Kobe landed back-to-back timely kills and tied the set at five apiece.
“We always expect good things out of Devyn,” Ker said. “And we certainly got that out of her tonight. She’s always pretty locked in and I know she is always motivated. She got a few friends on the other side of the court, some of her best friends, so I think she was excited to show out for them.”
Following a Saugus hitting error, Gioia Nicolas-Piccolino delivered a kill and extended the Wildcats’ lead to 20-14. After the kill the Wildcats’ offense closed out the third set with a 6-4 scoring run.
“She’s totally a jumpstart for us,” Ker said. “Super-efficient with her attacking percentage, but on top of that, she almost always finds a way to fire us up and ignite something with the team.”
The Wildcats closed out the third set and completed the sweep of the Centurions to extend their winning streak to four. And with the win, West Ranch remains undefeated in Foothill League play.
“I said at the beginning of the year, our expectation is to win league this year, but expectations are nothing until you get out there and start to prove it.” Ker said.
West Ranch plays again on Thursday on the road at Hart with the game set to begin at 5 p.m.
