High school volleyball: Tigers clinch second straight SJAA title

The Tokay High girls volleyball team finished the regular season with a sweep, but Weston Ranch didn’t make it easy. In the end, the Tigers finished each set, winning 25-20, 25-16, 25-21 to secure the outright championship of the San Joaquin Athletic Association for the second year in a row. “To me, personally, it makes me super proud,” said Tokay coach Natalia Sitkin, a 1992 graduate of Tokay High. “I’m a Tiger myself that played in this gym, so it means everything to my heart. But we want to put the program on the map and these girls this year were really dedicated to making that happen.” Last year’s championship was an undefeated run through league, but this year, after trading wins with Edison for Tokay’s lone league loss, an Edison loss to McNair on Monday meant that Tokay could clinch the title outright on Wednesday. “It felt very exciting to know that the team that I play with, we’re capable of winning two years in a row,” said senior Klarissa Baez, who was recognized along with Kaci Whatley, Bella Breech and Brianna Garcia in the team’s senior night festivities before the match. “And I’m very proud of our team and what we do and our coaches because it just takes a lot of teamwork.” But Weston Ranch, fighting for its own playoff possibility, wouldn’t be a pushover. “They needed it, I think, to go to the playoffs. They needed another win,” Sitkin said. “And there’s that three-way tie for third in our league. So it was so much better for us just to finish it outright and just have that cleared up.” Tokay slowly pulled ahead in the first set, but coudln’t put together a run until scoring three straight off the serve of Payten Smith, followed by another short run with Kalleigh Lepard serving. But a pair of kills from Weston Ranch’s Lila Harper kick-started the Courgars’ own run, which tied the match at 14. A tip from Lepard ended it and put Tokay back on top for good. “It just takes that one good kill, just back-to-back, and that lights us right back up,” said Whatley, who had a similar moment in the second set. “It also helps that we have such an amazing like program that likes to cheer us all on and get us super excited. So that always helps.” The second set started close again, with neither team able to get a decisive advantage until a late run which included a pair of aces from Tatum Stewart. Whatley finished the set with a kill and a block. “It’s like a fire gets lit and suddenly everything just starts to click into place,” Whatley said about when the momentum gets rolling. “The energy gets brought back up, and everybody on the team is just so excited that it moves quicker, and then things just start to play out perfectly.” Weston Ranch led most of the third set, building a 14-8 lead at one point. An Ava Pasqualicchio kill, then a tip point in the next play, started Tokay’s comeback, and with Bella Breech serving the Tigers went on a run. A pair of Pasqualicchio kills put Tokay up 17-15 before Weston Ranch stopped the bleeding. With Tokay’s Pasqualicchio and Weston Ranch’s big hitter, Harper, gaining steam, when the rotation brought the two opposite each other on the front line, the spikes from both sides boomed throughout the gym. But after a final Harper kill brought Weston Ranch back within two points, a Lepard kill and an Alyssa Wilson ace finished the set and the match. Finishing in three sets has been a point of emphasis for Tokay this fall. “We wanted everybody to participate in this win. Whatever the role is, whether it’s big or small, so to to have that happen, everybody’s got to play tough and put some points on the board, so it can happen for everybody,” Sitkin said. “So, I’m happy to see that they understand that. Just the humility on our team is huge, right now. They trust each other so much, and it’s been like a big thing that’s flipped for us.” Up next for Tokay is the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. The SJAA sends its top three teams as automatic qualifiers. Tokay, based on enrollment, will likely find itself in the Division I bracket again. Last year, the Tigers defeated McClatchy in a play-in game, then lost to No. 2 Folsom in the first round. “It’s going to be very challenging and a hard way, but we’ve been through it last year and it was frustrating to go and getting thrown into that D1 position,” Baez said. “But this year, we’re just excited. We just want to play in the playoffs. We really want to go to Folsom again.”