West Ranch girls’ volleyball trailed early in Tuesday’s night playoff opener against the Tesoro Titans, but in the end the Wildcats returned to their normal selves to take the win and advance to the next round.
The Wildcats swept the Titans in straight sets, 25-17, 25-16, 25-12 and face the Roosevelt Mustangs at home in the second round.
“I know my team has been really hungry to start the playoffs and start this journey and really work towards winning a CIF championship,” West Ranch head coach Jamey Ker said. “So, the amount of confidence I have to know that they’re going to show up and compete hard is through the roof and it’s a nice feeling.”
The Wildcats made uncharacteristic mistakes early in the first set.
West Ranch trailed 7-2 to the Titans, then began to claw back to cut the deficit to 13-12.
The Wildcats tied the set at 13 apiece following back-to-back digs from both teams. Devyn Kobe landed the kill and momentum shifted back toward West Ranch.
The Wildcats went on a 12-4 scoring run to close out the opening set.
After the game, Ker stated he was never worried about his team falling behind, and it was all about getting back on track.
“It’s confidence, it’s knowing that we’re going to find our way,” he said. “Sometimes you start matches slow. I wish we don’t, you’d like to hit the ground running right away, but that wasn’t in the cards for us, but we’re gonna fight. We’re gonna compete. We’re gonna be there for each other, no matter what.”
West Ranch opened the second set with a commanding 8-3 lead but wasn’t able to extend it any further as the Titans kept pace with the Wildcats.
The Titans cut the lead to three points, trailing 12-9 to West Ranch, but the Wildcats took advantage of some of the Titans’ mistakes and extended the lead to 19-13.
The Wildcats closed out the second set with a victory, capitalizing off mistakes from the Titans and executing on defense with key digs to go into the third set one win shy of the sweep.
In the third set, the Wildcats had their offense firing on all cylinders and opened an 11-5 lead before the Titans called a timeout.
But in the end, no matter what the Titans threw at West Ranch, the Wildcats closed out the game with clean defense and executed on offense to win the game.
“The old adage is defense wins championships,” Ker said. “And it will continue to be the case for us, no matter what. So, us being able to make them look worse than they were had a lot to do with our defense and our strategy being executed the way it was supposed to.”
With the win, the Wildcats advance to the second round of the Division 2 playoffs and will have another postseason game at home.
For Ker, until that next game he is going to have his team clean up mistakes that were made in the previous game and focus on how West Ranch can be ever better in the second round.
“I think having an intense practice tomorrow, whether we have a good scouting report, or we get film on them, whoever it may be, it matters, but it doesn’t matter nearly as much as just showing up,” he said.
The Wildcats host Roosevelt at West Ranch High School on Thursday with the game set to begin at 6 p.m.
