Paloma Valley girls volleyball team uses depth to rally past West Ranch

MENIFEE >> The Paloma Valley girls volleyball team showed strength in numbers Saturday, and that depth allowed the Wildcats to pull off a stunning comeback against West Ranch.

Allison Jacobs, a senior outside hitter headed to UCLA, was as good as advertised with a match-high 34 kills, but she was the only West Ranch player to record double-digit kills.

Paloma Valley, on the other hand, had three players reach double figures and a fourth player finished with nine. The balanced attack paid dividends, as the Wildcats rallied from two sets down to stun West Ranch 18-25, 20-25, 25-18, 27-25, 21-19, in a CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoff match. The No. 3-seeded Wildcats will head to Fountain Valley for a quarterfinal match Wednesday night.

“We never stopped believing, and we all took the opportunity to lean on one another for support tonight,” Paloma Valley junior setter Olivia Karwin said. “We did the same thing in a (CIF State) playoff match last season. We lost the first two sets, but we just stuck together and came back to win.

“We do start slow at times, but we know how to finish strong.”

Gabby Hollins led the attack for Paloma Valley on Saturday, finishing up with a career-high 27 kills. she had plenty of support, however, as Lizzy Markovska recorded 15 kills, Jayde Shelton added 13 kills and Shannon Durkin had a career-best nine kills.

“That’s who we are and who we need to be,” Paloma Valley coach Stephen Kaas said about having a balanced offensive approach. “Liz had the big number (21 kills) for us last match, and tonight it was Gabby’s turn. And at other times this year, it’s been Jayde leading the way. With us, it really is pick your poison.”

Paloma Valley (27-6) got off to a sluggish start, particularly in the area of serve reception. West Ranch took advantage, and grabbed a comfortable lead midway through the first set. Jacobs had six kills during that frame, and Erin Eskoff closed things out with an ace. Jacobs continued to be a handful for Paloma Valley during the second set, hammering down nine more kills.

It was the first time Paloma Valley faced a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five this season.

“We just didn’t play well in those first two sets,” Kaas said. “But I believed if we could just get our confidence back, we could turn things around. We have played some great volleyball this season, and we just needed to get back to doing all the things that got us here.”

Paloma Valley turned things around almost immediately at the start of the third frame. Markovska’s fiery energy after a crucial dig and a kill seemed to fire up her teammates. Hollins did the heavy lifting in the attack department, with eight kills on 12 swings. Paloma Valley also did a good job getting West Ranch out of system in the third frame. Jacobs had only two kills on six swings, and West Ranch had eight kills the entire set.

Jacobs and West Ranch (19-4) seemed to right the ship in the fourth set. The Wildcats raced to 14-9 lead and had match point at 25-24 after Jacobs’ ninth kill of the frame. Jacobs had a chance to end the match but was whistled for a back-row attack, tying the score. Markovska then delivered a kill, and Camille Harvey followed with an ace to force the deciding set.

The fifth set featured six lead changes and 15 ties. Paloma Valley could not take advantage of its first five match points, with Jacobs recording a kill on three of those points to extend the match. Jacobs’ 34th kill of the match gave West Ranch its second match point, but Markovska smacked a shot around the block and clipped the line to help Paloma Valley draw level at 19.

Paloma Valley once again got to match point after Karwin registered a block on Jacobs. Jacobs tried to tip a shot over the net on the ensuing point, but the ball landed just outside the line, setting off a celebration on the court by Paloma Valley.

Hollins had seven kills in the deciding set, including each of her first five swings.

“We made it really far in CIF last year, and I didn’t want to see this season come to an end in the second round,” Hollins said. “I just felt motivated to keep this going.”

Kiley Gustin and Kyla Waugh each had seven kills for West Ranch.