Girls volleyball: Redwood tops Marin Catholic to stay unbeaten in league
It’s been an eventful two weeks for players on the Redwood High girls volleyball team but, following a three-set victory against Marin Catholic on Thursday night, the Giants have put themselves in position to battle The Branson School for the MCAL title next week.
Redwood (23-4, 6-0 MCAL) was briefly left without a coach when Loren Anderson stepped down following the Sonoma Valley tournament. Former Marin Catholic coach Jake Spain plus assistants Nick Honrada and Ethan Dressen took the reins last week.
“Being the new coaches and seeing the potential this team has, we’re really excited for it,” Honrada said. “Obviously our (team) identity is not found yet. We’re starting from ground zero here trying to build it up. We have practice tomorrow but as the season goes on we’ll be able to find that identity. I think we’re starting to find that and get the connection with the kids a little better.”
If the new coaching staff at Redwood needed to see proof of concept — although there is plenty of familiarity with the players from club volleyball — the way the Giants played in the early part of the second set against MC (17-5, 4-2) might suffice. The Giants were trailing 5-2 before getting a side out and sending Katie Lazzareschi back to the service line. Redwood reeled off 12 points in a row to take control of the set en route to a 25-21, 25-19, 26-24 victory.
“That’s the best our offense has ever run,” outside hitter Jaden Hendrickson said. “It was executed perfectly by our freshman setter Katie Lazzareschi. She did a great job of moving the offense around.”
Although MC made a late run to pull within 23-19, the damage had been done and Redwood closed out the set for a 2-0 lead.
The third set was the most competitive of the night, with MC holding a slim lead for most of it.
“I think we shifted our mindset to just try and take it one point at a time,” MC coach Joshua Jung said via email. “I also think we got a lot more scrappy towards the end and fought to keep the ball up as best we could.”
MC was led by freshman Grace Basso’s eight kills. Izzy Adam had a team-high 13 digs and was second with six kills. Lilian Englert had 11 digs and Rania Brody had 25 assists.
The Wildcats had a couple of chances to close out the set up 24-22 but Redwood won the final four points to complete the sweep.
“We knew we needed to get that third set for this game to go completely our way,” Hendrickson said. “If it goes to a fourth, there’s so much up for interpretation that can go so many ways so we knew we had to keep it in three. Our grit was so there. Everyone was on the ground every point. The effort was amazing.”
Hendrickson led the way with 16 kills. Madeleine Wagner added 13 kills and Neeva Gaine had 10 kills for the Giants, who were playing their fifth game since the coaching switch.
“I’ve neve been so grateful for those three guys in my life,” Hendrickson said. “They are amazing people. I’ve known them since I was really little and they continue to prove how amazing they are every day.”
Spain led the Wildcats to a string of league and section titles during his 10 years at Marin Catholic, cresting with an appearance in the 2019 State Open Division championship game. Wildcats senior Mia Clayton is the lone varsity holdover from Spain’s last team at MC in 2021 while Hendrickson is the lone remaining Redwood varsity player from that season.
Thursday’s victory moved Redwood temporarily into sole possession of first place, a half-game ahead of idle Branson. The two programs face off next Thursday at College of Marin in the season finale for both teams.
Last season, the two teams clashed in the final game with Redwood securing the win to claim the regular-season title. Branson bounced back to beat both MC and Redwood in the playoffs en route to winning MCAL, North Coast Section, and state titles.