MC wins in three sets to advance to state
Geissberger dominates down stretch as Wildcats eliminate Bishop O'Dowd
Late in the third set of the NorCal Open Division championship game on Tuesday, the host Marin Catholic High girls volleyball team had the finish line in sight while the Dragons from Bishop O’Dowd were seeing their season go up in smoke.
The Dragons fired back with an inspired run to climb back into the set, taking a 10-19 lead, but MC hitter Kari Geissberger was not about to let them get back into the match.
Geissberger responded with four thunderous kills over the course of MC’s last five points, putting the finishing touches on another dominant performance as the Wildcats picked up a 25-17, 25-15, 25-23 victory.
“Fearless leader,” MC coach Jake Spain said of Geissberger. “Wanting the ball down the stretch of a match — not just that but rising to the occasion and not letting the moment (overwhelm her). She wanted every piece of that.”
MC (35-3) advances to the biggest game in California prep volleyball — the Open Division state title game at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday at Santiago Canyon College. The Wildcats will face Torrey Pines, whose match was delayed for 90 minutes on Tuesday night. San Diego’s Torrey Pines — the
No. 3 team in the country, according to MaxPreps. com — won the match in four sets.
“It’s extraordinary,” Geissberger said of the moment. “MC has never gotten to state, especially an open so being that it’s my senior year, fighting to go to state has just been insane. I’m just amazed at our whole team fighting. There’s nothing better than this feeling.”
The Dragons (30- 8) came out strong and led 16-14 before the match began to turn in MC’s favor. The Wildcats won a point where two different players were barely able to keep the ball off the ground then Geisserberger took over the game from an unusual spot for her — the service line as opposed to at the net.
“Jake changed my serving just to a stand serve and I told him that in the second set that that’s the best decision he’s ever made,” Geissberger said. “It’s way more consistent. Jake gave me a lot of confidence. I was nervous going into this game and he said ‘ No matter what happens, I have your back.’ During that serving run, I just looked over and he told me to calm down and I knew everything would be OK.”
Things worked out pretty well as Geissberger, serving 15-16 down when she started, reeled off nine points in a row to give MC set point. O’Dowd claimed one point to end the run but Julianna Treadway ended the ensuing point with a kill to give MC a 1- 0 lead.
“We’re not just trying to get one (serve) in, we’re trying to get five or six backtoback serves and keep that run going,” MC’s Olivia Cooper said. “The longer the run goes on, the more pressure there is to get out of it and it makes it harder to execute.”
Serving has been a focal point for MC all season long and it paid off again at the end of the second set. Bella McGirr had a pair of aces late in the set then Grace Oliva closed out the set with back-to-back aces of her own.
“If you don’t think your teammates have ur back then you’re not going to go for it like that at the service line because you’re afraid to miss. You play afraid,” Spain said. “A lot of programs don’t have the support that we have and our kids know we’re going back there trying to hit our best serve and whatever happens after that, happens after that.”
The Wildcats were in good shape in the third set until they held an 1811 lead. The Dragons, sensing their season was slipping away, responded with an impressive run to make MC sweat out the final dozen points.
Cooper had a crucial kill to stem the tide at 2020 before Geissberger took over down the stretch. Oliva also provided a big kill to put MC in front 2422. After O’Dowd’s top hitter, Michelle Ohwobete, responded with a kill to make it 24-23, Geissberger finished off the match, finding the back-left corner with her 18th kill of the match to send MC to state.
“There’s so much pressure, (Geissberger) handled it with such grace,” Cooper said. “She’s such an amazing player, I’m so lucky that I get to play with her. I think she really wanted it and it showed in those last few swings.”
In addition to Geissberger’s dominance and an advantage at the service line, MC’s ability to not only keep the ball off the floor but remain in system and turn defense into offense was another big key.
“It’s just a mentality that we play with here,” Spain said. “It doesn’t matter how broken a play is, we can still put it back together and find a way to put it back to our advantage. These girls operate better in chaos than any team I’ve ever had. They’re all really gifted with handling chaotic balls and putting it back into our advantage and getting good swings off it. No matter how broken a play looks, they find a way to get an attack off of it.”
McGirr, MC’s libero, and setter Leah WiltonLaBoy were key in turning defense back into offense.
“Leah set a great match,” Cooper said. “Bella was everywhere. That girl is amazing. This was a great game for us because all of us were hitting on all cylinders. It’s really hard to stop us when so many diff elements are working at the same time. Everyone just played their hearts out, so did ( Bishop O’Dowd). It was incredibly special to witness and be there for.”