During the 2023 playoffs, the West Ranch Wildcats fell short of a shot at playing in a California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section title game. Now, two years later, the Wildcats redeemed themselves and clinched a spot in the Division 2 championship game.
The Wildcats swept the JSerra Lions in straight sets, 25-15, 25-14, 25-19, and advanced to the Division 2 CIF-SS championship.
“We’ve had some good runs, and some great players come through this program, but this really feels like it’s a special year and it’s an opportunity for us to do something special,” West Ranch head coach Jamey Ker said. “This is a special group and the fact that we’ve been talking about it all year long, and for several years now, it feels pretty incredible.”
The Wildcats have a roster of great hitters on their team such as Grace Kelley, Devyn Kobe and Gioia Nicolas-Piccolino, and took pride in getting their points by any means necessary.
Instead of relying on the kills, the Wildcats opened the game highlighting their defense.
Timely blocks led by senior setter Dani Clewis gave the Wildcats a lead to open the game and let West Ranch claim the first set.
“Keep the wall up.”
The expression yelled by fans in the West Ranch crowd throughout the first set as the Wildcats had Clewis and Kelley getting points for their team off blocks.
“We had great scouting reporting,” Ker said. “The fact that we executed as consistently as we did and made good attackers not look good tonight is a testament to the girls’ focus and preparation.”
With the crowd cheering and all the momentum on the Wildcats’ side, mistakes such as hitting and service errors by the Lions gave West Ranch a commanding 7-2 lead in the second set.
And just as the Wildcats have done all season, they took the lead and ran away with it.
Following a kill from Kobe that extended the Wildcats’ lead to 11-4, the offense ran up the score while the defense prevented any balls from landing.
The player who led the defensive charge, senior libero Alexandra Seres, had many clutch digs off the Jserra hitters.
Following the second set victory, the Wildcats were one win away from the title game, and in the huddle prior to the third, Ker had just one message left for the team – to keep up the standard they set for themselves.
“We talked about how we have a standard that we set for ourselves and making sure that we don’t fall below that standard,” he said. “And again, while we wavered a bit, we had this perspective about what our standard needed to be.”
And the team did just so.
The Wildcats’ offense came out firing but not without a little push-back from the Lions.
After trailing 5-3 following a kill from the Lions, Kobe led the charge back for the Wildcats with timely kills.
But her efforts were not enough to hold back JSerra as the Lions took back the lead, 15-13, following multiple kills and an ace and prompted Ker to call a timeout.
In the end, the Wildcats played cleanly after the stoppage with Kobe calling game as she landed a kill that had her teammates swarm her as they yelled in excitement.
After the game, Clewis described the excitement of getting the win and celebrating as her teammates swarmed the court.
“I was like, ‘Wow me and my team just did this,’ I was so happy, nothing but enthusiasm and I just can’t wait to keep going with the girls.”
For Clewis, this week’s game will be an opportunity to rewrite history, as she was a part of the 2023 Wildcats team that fell short in the playoffs.
Back then she was a sophomore. Now she’s a senior and just wants to enjoy playing the game she loves with her teammates.
“It’s not really like a redemption. I’m just having fun with my team and just focusing on what’s in the future for us,” she said. “I’m super excited for it and to do it all together.”
The Wildcats play again on Saturday against Santa Margarita, which beat Long Beach Poly in the other semifinal, with the site of the championship to be at Cerritos College.
