North's #4 American River serves up upset sweep over South #1 Bakersfield

CCCAA State Quarterfinals
Match #1
American River v. Bakersfield, 25-19, 25-19, 25-21
Bakersfield finishes tied for 5th at the state tourney

(FRESNO) -- American River head coach Carson Lowden preached how patience and trusting her team's abilities have been big reasons why her team advanced through the NorCal regionals to reach its third straight CCCAA Women's Volleyball Championship Tournament. On Friday morning, ARC twice kept its poise through large Bakersfield leads in both the first and third sets as the Beavers stunned the South's #1 seed with a quarterfinals sweep.

Bakersfield (22-2) saw a 19-match winning streak end while ARC (26-6) is red-hot with 10 straight wins, nine by sweeps. 

Bakersfield led 16-7 in the opening set only to see American River use the powerful swing of Awelina Fakalata, who scored nine of her match-high 20 kills in the game to rally for a 6-point victory. With strong setting by Sabrina Bigley, Fakalata hammered four kills during a final 6-1 run to close the set. 

In set 2, ARC's serving picked up with five aces and Fakalata, an All-State selection, continued with her kill attack, landing three kills in a run that gave the Beavers a 14-11 lead. American River controlled the 6-point triumph and a 2-0 sets lead.

In the third, the Renegades had their best run of the match, grabbing a commanding 10-1 lead. Again, though, it was American River's serving that disrupted the Bakersfield game plan as well as the net play by ARC middles Ola Coker and Aurora Meneghetti picking up steam. The momentum quickly switched to ARC and remarkably Shanaley Iakopo spun three straight aces to finish off the sweep. 

"Awelina set the tone and took some of the nerves away for us in the opening set with her strong hitting," Lowden said. "We knew that hey we belong here after that first set. We never let those leads bother us. I think our serving in both the first and third sets, and then our middles stepping up to disrupt Bakersfield's offense in that third game were big factors."

Fakalata finished with 20 kills (.400), Meneghettti nine kills (hit .600) and three blocks, and Bigley totaled 34 assists to highlight ARC's offense. The Beavers finished with 15 aces, six by Iakopo and four from Aubrey Miller (also 11 digs). 

"Two things stood out against us today," said Bakersfield head coach Carl Ferreira. "One was (Fakalata) and her outstanding hitting with a swing that was fluid and had purpose. The other was our serve receive passing broke down. Sports can be cruel because in an hour-and-a-half you can have a great season end so abruptly. But our kids will recover and we can look back on a great season of work."

A standout for the Renegades was Kami Marion, who scored 13 kills in just 21 attempts (hit .571) and also led the team in digs with 11. All-American Aly Dees was limited to three kills and six digs while Tia Jules tallied nine kills (.412). 

American River plays the winner of the S3-Grossmont v. N2 West Valley match in the semifinals on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Release by Robert Lewis, CCCAA/CCCWVCA State Championship SID