Unstoppable Marauders
Monache finishes EYL on top
Monache High School volleyball is headed to the playoffs on a high note after sweeping crosstown rival Porterville 3-0 at home Thursday to go undefeated in East Yosemite League play with a 10-0 record and put a stamp on their EYL championship season.
The EYL title — the Marauders’ second in three years — was already in Monache’s possession with a 3-0 victory over Tulare Western (17-10, 5-4 EYL) on Tuesday but the goals from the start of the season had always been to not only win league, but to do so with a perfect record.
“It’s so surreal, it’s an awesome feat,” MHS head coach Rosalia Quinones said. “Ten-and-0. It’s an awesome feeling. These girls have worked so hard and again, taking EYL is an honor. Going undefeated is great.”
Monache (26-5, 10-0 EYL) managed the first two sets easily, winning both 25-12. But four-straight service errors by the Marauders and a Porterville (15-17-1, 1-9 EYL) team that wouldn’t give up, helped keep the Panthers in the game. Monache finally won the final set 25-17.
Seniors Hailey Kelley and Madisyn Baxter dominated the front row with Kelley totaling 14 kills and Baxter racking up 13. Kelley also finished with six digs, four aces and one block while Baxter had one dig and one ace. Junior Hally Flynn also contributed with eight kills, seven digs and three assists. An enthusiastic Gabby Cox, the team’s junior setter, had another big day with 42 assists and seven digs. Junior libero Kristen Watson finished with 13 digs and one ace.
“Our passing’s great, just here and there we’re still trying to adjust,” Quinones said. “We worked on a couple different defenses and we finally found one that worked with our girls and I think we’re getting better at it. But of course, offense can’t win games so we’re really going to work on our defense. Blocking, especially. We don’t get a lot of blocks but we slow down a lot of balls and I’m happy with that. Our back row defense can get to those. Defense wins games so we’ll be ready to play.”
For Porterville, junior libero Kaila Keovilaysane had 19 digs, senior Fallon Alviso and junior Kaitlyn Keovilaysane had six kills apiece while junior Avery Wingfield had 15 assists.
Porterville head coach Lisa Davis said league didn’t go the way the team had expected but they’re moving on and getting ready for playoffs.
“We’re really focused on what’s next,” Davis said. “You kind of break the season up in to three sections. You have your preseason, you have your league
[and playoffs]. Preseason we did what we needed to do, we accomplished all the goals that we had set. League, we fell a little bit short of what we had set in our goals but that’s okay. We’ve got this third round which is playoffs because we did what we needed to do at the beginning of the year we’re there and we’re excited and looking forward to competing and trying to make a run at it. Because once you get into playoffs, it’s anyone’s game.”
Brackets for the CIF Central Section Division playoffs will be released Saturday afternoon and Div. II Monache has one of the best records in their division so there is a chance the Marauders secure a home game for the first round. Div. IV Porterville is also one of the better teams in their division. The Marauders are ranked sixth on Maxpreps.com and the Panthers are ranked fifth.