Knights eliminate Bulldogs in volleyball semifinal
The CIF Division I girls volleyball playoff semifinal between Ramona High School and Bishop’s High School went to five games before the Knights took the victory in the deciding set.
Ramona won the first two games in the match on the Knights’ court on Nov. 18, but Bishop’s prevented the Bulldogs from capturing the necessary third victory.
“They cleaned it up when they needed to,” coach Connie Halfaker said of the Knights. “We made mistakes at the wrong time and they took advantage of that. In games three, four, and five they made very, very few errors.”
Prior to 2013, when the CIF San Diego Section transitioned from playoff divisions based on school enrollment to divisions based on competitive ranking, Ramona was in Division II. The Bulldogs remained in Division II in 2013 and 2014, and in 2014 Ramona won the CIF Division II championship. The ranking includes a weighted five-year history with the previous season accounting for 35 percent of that weighted ranking, and this year Ramona was moved to Division I.
All Division I teams earn berths in the CIF playoffs with the top eight teams in the power rankings placed in the Open Division playoffs and the remaining 16 Division I teams given berths in the Division I post-season. This year Ramona was 11th among the 24 Division I teams in the power rankings, giving the Bulldogs the third seed in the Division I playoffs.
The Bulldogs won their first two playoff matches to earn a berth in the semifinals against Bishop’s, who had the second seed.
“It was a really good matchup,” Halfaker said. “We were the No. 3 seed in Division I, which was a very fine compliment. We were not happy losing. We were happy with the effort that we gave.”
Ramona won the first two games by 25-20 and 25-23 scores before the Knights began their comeback.
“They had two very good right side hitters,” Halfaker said.
Those right side hitters were able to place the ball around Ramona’s blocking.
“We just kept giving them opportunities to do that,” Halfaker said.
At one point Ramona trailed by a 20-5 margin in the third game.
“We got ourselves out of that,” Halfaker said.
Bishop’s won that set, which ended with a 25-17 score. The Knights then took a 25-19 victory in the fourth game.
“We jumped out ahead and they came back,” Halfaker said.
The game was tied at 18-18 before the Knights took the final lead.
“We made three or four mistakes in a row,” Halfaker said.
The match thus went to a fifth and deciding game to 15 points.
“Game five was just back and forth, back and forth,” Halfaker said. “We were playing well.”
The score was tied at 13 points apiece before an error gave Bishop’s the next point. The Knights won the 15-13 final game after some long rallies at the end.
“We weren’t able to put it away,” Halfaker said.
The final point was scored when a Ramona player returned the ball that landed no more than 6 inches out of bounds.
“The player did the right thing. She made the right choice,” Halfaker said. “That’s all you can ask for.”
The loss gave Ramona a final overall season record of 26-11 including a 9-1 mark in Valley League play, which provided the Bulldogs with their second consecutive league championship.