Girls volleyball: Archie Williams prolongs title defense in five setter

The Archie Williams High girls volleyball team faced its second fifth set of the week on Thursday, needing another win to keep the defense of its Division III State championship going.

After nothing went right in a one-sided fourth set, the things that had been working in the first three sets – primarily Reese Fraser setting Lindsey Jones, plus Amelia Richer going on service runs – started clicking again. The No. 3 Peregrine Falcons made several key plays late to outlast No. 6 West Valley for a 25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 10-25, 15-10 home victory in the NorCal D-III quarterfinals.

Archie hangs on 25-23. Fraser given a tough pass near the right pin, decides to hammer it cross court for a kill rather than try a set. #marinvolleyball pic.twitter.com/YUcaAfucPI

— Ian Ross (@IRossMIJ) November 10, 2023

Archie Williams (17-10) is set to travel to Burlingame on Saturday for a 6 p.m. semifinal against No. 2 Mercy (24-11). The Peregrine Falcons defeated Mercy in three sets in last year’s NorCal D-III title game.

The Peregrine Falcons took a 2-1 lead into the fourth on Thursday but the set quickly got away from them. Instead of having 3 minutes to process the loss before the fifth set began, the Peregrine Falcons had closer to 10 minutes to figure things out because they lost contact with the Eagles (41-7) so quickly.

“I think it’s easier to come back in the sets that we were down a lot because at some point we just accepted it and we’re just going to use this for the next set and win it,” Jones said.

Momentum needed to be re-established quickly and Jones ensured that with a thunderous swing for a 1-0 lead, pounding the court after winning the point to try and fire her teammates back up again. A similar scene played out on the second point, with Fraser setting Jones for another emphatic kill.

The combination had worked to brilliant effect in the first and second sets. Jones had eight kills in each set but the effectiveness waned during the third and fourth sets with Jones having seven kills combined in those two frames. Jones bounced back with five kills in the all-important fifth set to finish with a total of 28.

“She’s always my go-to hitter,” Fraser said. “I trust her fully to put the ball away. She has great court sense and awareness of the block which makes her a crucial hitter at any given point in the match. It’s really cool to watch her put balls away again and again and just the energy she brings after a kill is really amazing.”

Another Jones kill gave the Peregrine Falcons a 3-2 lead then they needed a bit of luck on their side. An Archie Williams pass skied toward the roof of the gym, going above an air duct. The ball stayed up there out of sight for a couple of seconds before falling back down to earth on the opposite side of the tubing. Rainey Preston was able to track the wayward ball and get to it to keep the Peregrine Falcons in the point. A few moments later, a block by Felicity Brown put Archie Williams up 4-2.

“I was really nervous because I passed it and it went all the way up,” Jones said of the play. “I was like ‘We need to win this one point to get the momentum back.’ So we were all looking and I’m just so glad that she went to the ball and got it.”

Archie Williams rediscovered another previously successful trend in the nick of time when Richer went back to serve with an 8-6 lead. Richer won three consecutive points – including her third ace – to give the Peregrine Falcons some crucial breathing room with an 11-6 lead.

“Amelia dislocated her kneecap against (Terra Linda) in a preseason game so her first game (back) was Tuesday,” Archie Williams coach Lisa Hudson said. “Amelia was part of our winning team last year and was so critical to our defense and passing. For her to step in – she’s been serving a lot of balls in practice because it was all she could do.”

Richer also went on a 7-0 run on her serve early in the third set, turning a 7-10 deficit into a 14-10 lead.

“She’s amazing in the back row,” Fraser said. “She’s picking up everything and not to mention her serve is phenomenal. She’s going on those runs and it’s really helping us.”

The only thing the fifth set was missing from an Archie Williams perspective was a setter dump from Fraser, who spent the early sets giving West Valley blockers fits with her propensity to suddenly flip the back over her head at an acute angle, hitting the right sideline every time.

“Those are some of my favorite dumps and I’ve been working on them since I was really little so I’m used to it,” Fraser said. “I kind of just watch the blocker and I think over the years I’ve picked up a sense of how far off the blocker is and how far in the libero is. Once I establish my middle dump, they’ll start crashing in the middle then it just leaves it wide open in the back.”

Around the county

• Kate Lane led the way with 22 kills as Marin Academy advanced to the NorCal D-IV semifinals following a 19-25, 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 17-15 victory against Castilleja at home on Thursday. Ellie Corsello added 15 kills, Kirsten Wang had 26 digs and Bailey Barmaki had 25 assists to keep the Wildcats season alive. No. 2 MA (21-16) hosts No. 6 East Nicolaus (30-2) in a semifinal at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
• No. 15 Tam’s run through the Norcal D-II playoffs came to an end on Thursday following a 17-25, 20-25, 25-20, 21-25 loss to No. 7 Notre Dame of Belmont (19-11). The Red-tailed Hawks (26-10) were led by Malia Parsons’ 19 digs. Lauren Widdifield had nine kills and four blocks while Zoe Lyko added six kills and five blocks.
• Marin Catholic’s season also came to an end on Thursday, as the top-seeded Wildcats fell 25-22, 25-22, 19-25, 24-26, 9-15 against No. 8 Folsom (28-8) in the NorCal D-I quarterfinals. Stats for MC (23-9) were not available at press time.