Pirates' season ends after 5-game heartbreaker
You could point to a blown lead in game one or simply not having enough left in game five as reasons for the No. 10 Porterville College volleyball team’s gut-wrenching loss to No. 7 Sierra (Rocklin).
But coach Dale Henderson saw his pet peeve resurface at the worst possible time, paving the way for a 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-6) Wolverine victory in the first round of the NorCal playoffs, Tuesday night.
The Pirates had 14 serving errors after only enduring two in the regular-season finale.
“We had the talent to win, but we reverted back to our old ways. We haven’t done that in a month and a half,” Henderson said of the serving errors. “We fought hard, but had way too many unforced errors. You can’t do that in the playoffs.”
Freshman outside hitter Katrina Goulbourne led the Pirates (17-6) with 16 kills with sophomore Olga Velasquez and freshman Evan Dillon contributing 11.
Dillon also had 16 digs with sophomore setter Laura Lopez getting 40 assists, three kills and 12 digs.
Freshman libero Sabina Lopez paced PC with 25 digs.
The Pirates, who lost in three games to Sierra (20-9) in the San Jose Tournament, Sept. 25, were on the verge of a key game-one win with a 24-19 lead. But the Wolverines rallied and closed the game on a 7-1 run to take the early lead.
“That was the match-breaker right there,” Henderson said.
PC took games two and four and, nearing the two-hour mark, trudged onto the court for the deciding game.
The Wolverines jumped out to a 9-2 lead and the demoralized Pirates couldn’t catch up, falling 15-6.
Velasquez, Lopez, Nansi Reyes, Zori Hernandez and Jennifer Gliddon end their JUCO volleyball careers while Dillon, Sabina Lopez and Goulbourne lead the prospective returners for 2010.
