Young Santa Rosa Academy volleyball team loses in 5 sets

Amanda Henry leaps to make a shot for the Santa Rosa Academy girls volleyball team Thursday. Photos by Joe Quinn

By Joe Quinn, Correspondent

In a home girls volleyball match on the Santa Rosa Academy campus Thursday, the Rangers lost a tough 3-2 decision against California Military Institute. The match could’ve gone either way, with the visitors pulling out the final set, 15-13.

The first set looked like a runaway for CMI until the Ranger players roared back, evening the score at 15 all. From there, it was close until the final point went to the CMI team, giving them the first set at 26-24.

The second set went to Santa Rosa at 25-18 and it was theirs all the way. It looked like
they had turned the tide in the home team’s favor but CMI came back and took the third set,
giving them a chance to close it out in four sets. However, the Rangers stood their ground
early and throughout the fourth set and took it with an insurmountable lead, coasting to a
25-8 victory.

But despite the great play and teamwork from all the Santa Rosa girls, they lost the final set and the match.

Santa Rosa is a young team with only six upper-class players, with the balance of the roster being a strong freshman and sophomore group making up the squad of 15. Seniors Ariana Madrid and
Cailyn Layton made several hard plays and led the senior group, as did Ashlyn Gaines.

Ninth graders Amanda Henry and Genevieve Mezamartinez contributed like veterans and will give
confidence for the future of the team. Key plays, including several hard digs, were made
by most of the team members with lots of opportunities for Mary Murray, Adelaide Ross and
Joslyn Gomez.

Gomez was all over the place and often on the floor after hard plays. The play of Ross stood out, as did that of Allison McGavran and Alexis Thompson. Sarah Groninger and Sara Cooper supported each other well on several plays at the net. Kariliana Wise, Kayla Bird and Brynn De Wit had many opportunities, keeping the team in the match.

Sarah Groninger and Sara Cooper leap to make a block for the Rangers volleyball team.