Renegades sweep Orange Coast to advance to state title tournament

Being the top seed means you get every team’s best shot.

For the Bakersfield College Renegades, that meant that in the first round of the regional women’s volleyball playoffs, they dropped the first set Tuesday to an opportunistic Fullerton squad.

But Saturday night against Orange Coast, there would be no such setback. BC withstood a first-set rally for a narrow 25-23 win, displayed its best passing and attacking in a dominant second set and went on a long run to claim the third and sweep the ninth-seeded Pirates 3-0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-20).

“We’ve always talked about how people chase us,” sophomore middle blocker Aly Dees said, “and that’s always been in the conversation in the locker room, and we just know that we have to work hard and not underestimate anyo

Both Dees and teammate Tia Jules, with 13 kills each, were powerful attacking presences in the middle. Jules in particular helped the Renegades seal the deal, claiming the first and second set with powerful attacks, then supplying half of the Renegades’ final eight points with kills in the third.

“We closed real well... Our team really flies late in the game, and I thought we did that in all three sets,” coach Carl Ferreira said.

Orange Coast’s attackers did not thrive as much late in sets. Outside hitters Summer Hanks and Sara Enright preyed on some miscues by the Renegades’ defense and tallied plenty of kills, but the Pirates had numerous mishaps throughout the game, including 14 attack errors.

Those helped BC (22-1) build an early lead in the first set against Orange Coast (20-6), a departure from Tuesday’s first-round struggles.

Kami Marion had three kills early for the Renegades as they built a 13-7 lead.

“I thought the last match we played,” Ferreira said, “we didn’t start the way we wanted to start. So I thought our energy early and our efficiency, our execution early was very good.”

It declined down the stretch, as the Pirates went on a lengthy run with the Renegades’ defense melting down. A bad pass drifted over the net to give Rachael Street an easy kill, then Kylie Terakawa dropped a serve right in the middle of BC’s defense. Grace Hoyt came off the bench and immediately committed an attack error, and then another BC violation forced a timeout from Ferreira with the Renegades trailing 20-17.

As they have so many times throughout the season, the Renegades stormed back. As Dees put it, they were able to “bring the sisterhood together.” Aided by three errant attacks by Hanks and a tremendous individual effort by Marion that led to a block, BC scored seven straight points and withstood a final Pirates surge to win 25-23.

The Renegades looked their best in the second set, as the Pirates flagged. BC scored the first six points of the set, including multiple aces from Samantha Smith, who finished with five. Then the Renegades built the lead to 11-1 as Dees and Marion picked apart the Pirates defense.

“We have a specific thing we’re doing with serving that helps our block and diggers, so hats off,” Ferreira said. “I think Samantha was the one that got us on a couple of scoring runs early in the matches, and she served first for us in all three sets for a reason.”

BC built its lead to 16 points at 23-7, and even after conceding some late points to the Pirates finished at 25-12, its largest single-set margin of the postseason.

The Renegades found their offensive momentum stymied in the third set as Orange Coast’s defense at the net started to dominate, with early blocks from Hanks and Street. Orange Coast scored four straight to take a 10-8 lead, then kept the Renegades under control as the Pirates extended their lead to 17-13 with a chance to prolong the game.

Once again, the Renegades excelled in the clutch. Orange Coast managed just three points the rest of the match. They continued to stuff BC’s hitters at the net, but the Renegades were able to dig the ensuing blocks and extend rallies.

Meanwhile, on offense, they fed Jules. The Pirates called timeout after she gave the Renegades the lead at 19-18, then again after two more kills from her and one from Marion, plus an unexpected tip from Smith, made it 23-20. But it was in vain, as BC punched its ticket to the state championship tournament at Fresno City College with a 25-20 victory.

The Renegades will compete in the tournament as one of eight qualifying teams, beginning Friday morning.