Strong Season Ends For Ohlone Volleyball

The Ohlone women’s volleyball team’s fine season finally ended Tuesday night, but it took a very good opponent to defeat the Renegades.

Playing its second match in two nights due to unprecedented circumstances — the poor air quality from the catastrophic Camp Fire in Paradise forced teams throughout the region to reschedule contests — Ohlone, the 15th seed, fell to powerful No. 2 Gavilan 25-9, 25-22, 25-11 in Gilroy in Round 1 of the CCCAA Regional Playoffs.
“Despite what the scores look like I thought we played well. Gavilan is a REALLY good team, and we threw everything we could at them,” said Ohlone coach Jeremy Penaflor. “We had an overall rough serve-receive night, and that had a lot to do with Gavilan's tough serving. When we did have good runs in serve-receive I thought we ran what we wanted to offensively, but Gavilan's defense was tough to get past.”
Overall, Penaflor gave his team high marks for its historic, 22-win season. Gavilan was just a bit too strong.
“We weren't perfect, but we didn't give up. That's all I could have asked for from this group considering the formidable opponent.,” Penaflor said. “I’m so proud of what this group has been able to accomplish. We compiled more wins than any team I've coached at Ohlone, we qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012 (and the second time in at least 16 seasons - likely more), we won a match in the playoffs, and we did this despite all the injuries and adversities the athletes went through.”
Peñaflor added that he “couldn't be more proud. It was a great season. I wish the sophomores continued success in their next endeavors, and I look forward to the freshmen taking the torch and running with it in 2019. “

Match stats
Gavilan d. Ohlone: 25-9, 25-22, 25-11
Notes: Malia Silva led in digs (6);
Elena Webster led in service aces (3);
Katie Souza led in assists (12) to go with 2 service aces and 4 digs.