Bulldog spikers defeat Centurions, Sundevils

By Joe Naiman

Ramona High School’s girls volleyball team took a 5-4 overall season record into Valley League play after home wins against University City on Sept. 25 and against Mt. Carmel Sept. 27.

“It went great,” Coach Connie Halfaker said of the final week before league play. “We picked up two very important wins for CIF seeding.”

Ramona, University City, and Mt. Carmel are all in Division II for CIF playoff purposes, so the wins will likely have seeding implications. The shorter-term results will likely be reflected in the weekly rankings.

“We went into the match behind University City in ranking, so to come up with a win against them is very important,” Halfaker said.

Ramona’s four-game victory against University City saw the first two games settled in overscores. The Bulldogs prevailed by a 26-24 margin in the first game. The Centurions took a 6-2 lead in game two and eventually ended the game with a 27-25 victory.

“We went down pretty big in game two early,” Halfaker said. “We did a great job of coming back.”

After a 25-20 win in the third game, Ramona sealed the match with a 25-21 triumph in game four.

“We were ahead the whole way and maintained our focus,” Halfaker said.

Abby Roulier and Kelsie Whitten shared the team lead with 15 kills for the match while Christina Barrameda had 12 kills.

“It was a very balanced game,” Halfaker said.

Mikayla Derochie had 54 assists, and she also led the Bulldogs with two serving aces. Whitten had six blocks. Jennah Hickle recorded 18 digs while Derochie had 14 digs.

The win against Mt. Carmel was also in four games, including 25-16 and 25-20 Ramona victories to begin the match.

“We got off to a very strong start,” Halfaker said.

Mt. Carmel’s 25-20 triumph in the third game included a 13-4 run to end the game.

“Halfway through game three they all of a sudden found their stride and we didn’t respond,” Halfaker said.

Ramona won the fourth game by a 25-20 score.

“The girls recognized what was going on. They made some good adjustments,” Halfaker said.

Ramona had to make some adjustments when libero Julie Vorhes was injured in the Mt. Carmel game. Halfaker moved Sarah Kosut from right side hitter to libero.

“She stepped in really, really well,” Halfaker said of Kosut.

Cassidy Shields took over as the right side hitter when Kosut moved to libero.

Derochie had 15 assists against the Sundevils.

“She called a very smart game,” Halfaker said.

Derochie also led the Bulldogs with four aces against Mt. Carmel. Hickle had 13 kills and 21 digs while Barrameda added 11 kills.

“Very happy with the week,” Halfaker said. “It went very well.”