Fresno runs win streak to 27 in sweeping Gavilan

(Fairfield, Calif.) -- Fresno City College is on a mission. A team that started the year at 2-3 is now headed to the CCCAA Women's Volleyball State Championship final, sweeping North #1 seed Gavilan, 25-18, 25-12, 25-22, in the semifinals Saturday night. The Rams won their 27th consecutive match and will face American River in the first All-North region final in the history of the 42-year tournament.

That championship final takes place on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Solano College. 

All the more remarkable is that none of the original four seeds in the North Regionals are around for the match as #1 Cabrillo, #2 Gavilan, #3 Hartnell, and #4 Sierra all were eliminated. Only #5 American River, a second place team from the Big 8 Conference, and #6 Fresno City, the 2016 state champion, are left standing.

Gavilan saw its 17-match win streak snapped and finished its season at 30-2, tying Irvine Valley for third place at the state tourney. Fresno is 29-3 overall.

Fresno didn't waste any time grabbing control of the Battle of the Rams. In the opening set, tied 9-9, FCC went on an 11-3 run to run away with a 7-point win. In set 2, an ace by Mandy Campise capped a 15-3 start to the game. A dink kill by Marina Gonzalez capped a 13-point rout and 2-0 sets lead.

In the third set, Gavilan took a 17-14 lead before Fresno came back on four kills by Gonzalez to cut it to 19-18. Gavilan led again 21-18, then Fresno tied it at 21-21. Gavilan had its last hurrah at 22-21, but Mia Corippo ripped two kills, Julie Castleman one kill and a Gavilan attack error finished the sweep.

For Fresno, the Rams hit .286 with Gonzalez and Corippo (.370) scoring 12 kills each. Keri Leake added seven kills and three blocks while Castleman had five kills and three blocks. Campise made 13 digs. Setter Katie Emmerling handed out 32 assists and added two aces. Destiny Vang contributed eight digs and two aces. For Gavilan, Camille Finley tallied five kills and both Terese Ochoa and Sarah Weiby scored four kills a piece. 

Fresno avenged an early-season loss in three sets to Gavilan. But that was a long time ago for the Rams.

"Fresno has one of my favorite coaching staffs because the way they develop kids is unbelievable," said Gavilan head coach Kevin Kramer. "They were like that in 2016 when they won the state title, so balanced and solid across the board. Tonight, I think our team saw playing Fresno as a hurdle, rather than an opportunity. I told our kids that state tourney or not, to win 30 matches may never happen again in our history and they can be proud of being the team to accomplish that."

Fresno coach Kieran Roblee said, "Look at the three teams we lost to at the start of the season. We lost to Hartnell, redeemed ourselves (Round 2 Regionals). We lost to Gavilan. Redeemed. And we lost to American River, and now we have a chance to redeem ourselves again. We have a saying that thoughts influence actions. But the mind  thought is how do you react when you make an error? So it's important to stay positive and move on to the next play.

"Corippo and Gonzalez played fantastic at the left pins and Castleman gave us some balance. I thought our serving was aggressive and it disrupted Gavilan."

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCAA/CCCWVCA