Defiant Cabrillo defeats Delta, earns trip to state
APTOS >> Just a few minutes into Tuesday's NorCal final at Cabrillo College, San Joaquin Delta College women's volleyball coach Molly Mordaunt called a timeout to chastise her team for being too timid.
The Mustangs, the No. 4 seed in the region, heeded her warning, rallying back from a six-point deficit to pull into a tie. But when they tried to surpass host and No. 1 seed Cabrillo, that's where doubt met defiance.
"Don't let them do anything," sophomore outside hitter Marcela Frazzoni said of the Seahawks' attitude. "Don't even try."
That attitude prevailed as Cabrillo chopped Delta down in three sets, 25-20, 25-16, 25-22, to secure its third straight berth, and fourth in five years, to the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship. The Seahawks (26-1), winners of the Coast Conference North, will join Foothill (28-1), winner of the Coast Conference South, as the NorCal representatives. It is the first time two Coast Conference teams have qualified for state. They will duke it out against SoCal champions L.A. Pierce and College of the Canyons, the tournament host, Saturday and Sunday in Santa Clarita.
Cabrillo has played Delta (21-6), the Big 8 champion, for a state berth five times since 2009, The Seahawks have won four of those, but only swept the Mustangs once — in 2013, when they went completed an undefeated season with their first state title since 1978.
The way Cabrillo played Tuesday makes another state title seem within reach.
"It was like a machine. We were working so well," said sophomore middle Patrice Williams, a Harbor High alumna. "They had good attackers and we were able to shut them down, and that makes me really confident for state."
Sophomore outside Cassidy Caton led Delta with 14 kills and 13 digs. Clever opposite Kalani Vaughns added six kills, the most notable of which was a deep shot to the far opposite corner that ended an epic Game 3 rally that lasted more than two minutes.
Frazzoni, playing in the back row, tried to race the ball to the ground but couldn't dig it before it landed squarely in the corner of the court.
"That was the longest rally I've ever played in. I wanted it to end but I couldn't make it," said Frazzoni, of Santiago, Chile, who stayed splayed out on the court in front of a crowd of about 200 for a long moment after the ball dropped. "I tried, but ...."
That was about the only ball Frazzoni didn't get to. And when she got a chance to attack the ball after a dig, she made sure it wasn't coming back. She finished with 12 digs and a match-high 22 kills on a .442 hitting percentage.
"I am so proud of how she came out tonight," said Cabrillo coach Gabby Houston-Neville. "That was the best I've seen her play."
It was far from a one-woman show, however. Williams and Amber Bothman, a Scotts Valley High graduate, kept the Mustangs' middles honest with six kills apiece. Natalie Picone added nine kills and 18 digs, Alyssa Nelson made 16 digs and Eden Fukushima made a whopping 52 assists along with three blocks and seven digs. Williams added five blocks and Olivia Tabron made four.
The Seahawks jumped out to a 6-1 lead in Game 1 when Mordaunt called her timeout to embolden her team. The Mustangs slowly clawed back to tie it at 10s before Cabrillo went on another run, leading 15-12. Twice more, Delta would rally to tie the Seahawks, but it never managed more than a one-point lead before Cabrillo took the set.
That was enough of a close call for the Seahawks, who jumped out to such strong starts in Games 2 and 3 that they were never really in jeopardy.
"They were playing to win," Houston-Neville said. "It was like, 'This is what we want and no one is going to take it away from us.'"
Now the Seahawks have their eyes on the state title. If Tuesday is any indication, the rest of the field would be wise to come out guns a-blazing, because Cabrillo certainly will.
"I feel like after this game we can do anything," Frazzoni said. "We are so fired up."
photo by Shmuel Thaler — Santa Cruz Sentinel