Cate celebrates their Game 4 win on the way to five-set CIF victory over Carpinteria.
The girls volleyball teams from Cate School and Carpinteria met on Tuesday in a rare instance of a cross-town matchup in an opening round CIF match.
It didn’t disappoint.
The host Warriors saw a fifth-game lead evaporate as the Rams reeled off seven straight points to snatch a 32-30, 20-25, 23-25, 26-24, 15-10 victory.
Carpinteria’s Erin Callaway takes a swing on Tuesday night. Callaway recorded 13 kills in the match.
“It was point for point a lot of the match,” said Rams head coach Greg Novak, whose team has won three straight five-set matches.
Carpinteria held a 9-6 advantage in the final set when Maddie Becker stepped to the service line. The sophomore didn’t leave until the Warriors sided-out down 13-9. Becker also served the final three points of the fourth set and finished with seven aces in the match.
Becker also finished the match having lost her voice from so much talking and celebrating on the court.
“It was really amazing. I’ve never been so excited after a game before,” Becker said. “I’ve never lost my voice before so that says something.”
Cydney Pierce led the Rams hitting attack with 16 kills.
While the Rams could look ahead to the next round, Carpinteria was left to cope with missed opportunities.
“If we’re ahead, we tend to think ‘oh we’re ahead, we can loosen off a little bit,’ and it’s a really bad habit that we should have gotten out of but…,” said Carpinteria’s Erin Callaway before trailing off.
For the Warriors, Allie Sundara recorded a team-high 14 kills. Callaway collected 20 digs, five aces and 13 kills.
The Rams advance in the Division 4-A playoff to meet the No. 1 seed Pacifica Christian on Thursday at home.
Cate’s Xandrine Griffin attempts to hit past a Carpinteria blocker on Tuesday.
