httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow59V3i0Dzs
Carly Wopat didn’t have to worry about how to hit through Clovis West’s blockers on Saturday night.
She just went right over the top of them.
Dos Pueblos’ Stanford-bound middle was getting some serious hang-time, producing 16 kills on 18 swings with no errors as the top-seeded Chargers (32-2) picked up a 25-12, 25-19, 25-20 win over the visiting Golden Eagles (33-11) in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division I Girls Volleyball State Tournament.
The win sets up another home match for the CIF Division I-A champion Chargers, who will take on Division I-AA champ Newport Harbor in the semifinals on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“She’s come alive. It’s incredible the way she’s connecting with (setter) Sammie Brown in the past couple of matches. It’s fun to watch,” said assistant coach Greg Novak of Wopat.
The packed house sure had fun watching the way Wopat ended the first game. It might not have been intentional, but she went up for a quick set from Brown and clobbered it straight down on top of the head on a Clovis West defender.
It was one of the rare times in volleyball where a helmet would have come in handy.
Carly’s twin sister Sam Wopat put away nine kills on the night while sophomore lefty Taylor “Poof Ball” Racich put down seven on the right side.
Sally Yingst had eight kills, and although she had just one ace the Golden Eagles struggled to pass her booming jump serve. She led a match-high five-point run early in the first and a three-point run after putting away a back-row kill in the third. A three-point run is common, but this one turned a 10-12 deficit into a 13-12 lead.
It didn’t hurt that Carly Wopat had block assists on all three points – two while going up with Racich and one with her sister.
“Her serve is just strong. You think it’s coming at you and then all of a sudden it goes a different direction. Plus her approach is really intimidating,” said senior libero Megan Smith, who shoveled up eight digs. Brown notched 15 in the match.
Dos Pueblos' Sammie Brown takes a swing.
Aside from a brief period of flat play in the third and fourth sets against Los Alamitos on Tuesday, the Chargers have been playing their best volleyball of the season in recent weeks. They stormed through the CIF-SS championships without losing a set, and were lights-out in the finals against Huntington Beach, needing less than an hour to win the title. Newport Harbor swept Huntington Beach on Saturday night.
“I think we’ve definitely been playing with more excitement (in the posteseason),” said Smith. “I think we’re peaking, whereas before we were planning to peak.”
Clovis West, which didn’t even win the Tri-Rivers League (Buchanan took the title), hadn’t gotten a chance to see DP play but still didn’t find too many surprises across the net.
“We never had a chance to see them, but we’ve been hearing about them for years. I’ve been hearing about those twins for three or four years now,” said coach Rhonda DeRuiter. “We knew we were up againt a very, very talented team.”
Clovis West tried to use energy to its advantage, with the Golden Eagle bench players on their feet from the very start. There wasn’t much to cheer about once Sam Wopat notched a kill on the left side that gave DP a 14-3 lead. Two kills by Racich and Carly Wopat’s head-banging shot put a quick end to the frame.
The visitors had a 10-9 lead in the second game but Carly Wopat tied it up with a kill, which was followed by two errors from Clovis West and a right-side crush down the line by Racich that forced a Golden Eagle timeout with the Chargers up 13-10. DP missed the first serve out of the timeout, but Carly Wopat put away two straight kills and the hosts would build the lead to as big as seven points before a Clovis West service error ended the set.
The three-point run with Yingst at the line put the Chargers on top after struggles early in the third. Clovis West would tie things up as late as 19-19 after a DP net violation, but Carly Wopat was there once again with a kill to put the Chargers back up. Yingst followed with a great tip to the deep corner and Dos Pueblos cruised all the way home.
The Chargers swept Newport Harbor in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions last month after coming back from an 18-24 deficit to win the second set 26-24.
“We’ve just gotta shut them down a couple of times. We’ve got a lot of hitters, and if we shut them down quick it should be ours, but it’s going to be tough. It could definitely go to five with them,” said Novak.
