Butte advances in NorCals, gets Feather River next
Butte Valley >> The Butte College women's volleyball team earned another crack at Feather River.
Seeded seventh in the California Community College Athletic Association NorCal regional, the Roadrunners earned their third test thanks to a four-set, 25-15, 25-22, 21-25, 25-17 win at home over No. 10 Porterville on Tuesday night in a first-round playoff contest.
Sophomore setter Gabby Delarosa helped pave the way for Butte (22-7) with 43 assists, three kills, two blocks and an ace. Freshman and Willows High product Alyson Brunner was Delarosa's most productive target with 14 kills, while former Pleasant Valley standout Taylor Johnson finished a close second with 12.
Mikaela Woodbury sealed the deal in the fourth set with a float jump-serve that forced Porterville (16-10) into a passing error on serve receive, closing out the match for the Roadrunners, 25-17.
Up next: the second-seeded Golden Eagles (23-2) from Quincy at 7 p.m. Saturday night in the second round.
"We're happy to play well tonight and advance into the second round," Butte coach David Davis said. "We went from the sweet 16 to the (final) eight in the north ... I think that's awesome and I think we are gaining confidence."
As for the five-time defending Golden Valley Conference champion Golden Eagles, they swept No. 15 Yuba at home, 25-9, 25-21, 25-13.
Davis likes the fact that his next opponent is one he knows a lot about.
"It is a team we're very familiar with," Davis said. "Anytime you play a team twice, you know their tendencies they know your tendencies, and it's a rivalry game so I like going into that as an underdog."
Butte was anything but an underdog on Tuesday night, opening the match with a rather routine 25-15 win, in which it opened up a 15-9 lead then increased it to 10 quickly. The key was Delarosa spreading the ball to three and four different hitters all over the court. The former Viking had 12 first-set assists, while her top targets were Brunner (four kills), Johnson (3) and Erika Click (3).
"Gabby has really turned it up a notch in the last two or three weeks," Davis said. "Her desire to get to those balls is fantastic, and she's been the difference we've been able to move the ball around."
One particular sequence in set two — Butte's loss in the match — had Delarosa pushing it out to Woodbury early in the point, then quickly finding the middle in transition, where Click powered home one of her nine kills, to go along with a match-high eight blocks.
"It's a really big deal that we get the offense rolling. We're going to go up against a lot of big blocks," Delarosa said. "It's important to spread the ball."
The Roadrunners bounced back from their 25-21 loss in set three by jumping on Porterville early in the fourth. Woodbury collected an ace off her jump-serve while Brunner finished a quick-set from Delarosa untouched through the Pirates' defense for a 3-0 Butte lead. The Roadrunners extended it to 10-6 then 24-17 before Woodbury finished it off.
All things will need to be clicking again Saturday night when Butte makes the trip up to Quincy to try and exact revenge on its GVC rivals.
"What's going to be key for us?" Davis said. "I think it's going to be staying in (the) offense, controlling our serve receive, trying to get them out of their offense. If we can beat them in those two areas, then we get a chance to win the match at the end."