Sports
Girls' Volleyball: Foothill Silences Doubters with Win Over Crosstown Rival Amador Valley 3-1
With the win, the Falcons jump into first place in the EBAL, and the Dons fall into second.
Foothill d. Amador Valley, 25-17, 25-21, 25-13, 25-16
Records: Foothill 18-3, 6-1 EBAL, Amador Valley 15-8, 5-2
The Star: Caitlin Dewitt was hard to stop at the net, dominating the Dons with 17 kills and played her part on defense with seven digs.
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The Turning Point: With the fourth set tied at 4-4, Sarah Holmgren and Kirsten Desprez made a pair of one-handed sets that kept the point alive. It would eventually end in an Amador side out that gave the Falcons a 5-4 lead they never relinquished.
The Quote: "Foothill did a nice job of just playing their game at a high level, which just kept the pressure on us the whole night, and just never really let up," Dons coach Rich Cortez said.
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Who's Next? Foothill plays at San Ramon Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m.; Amador Valley will visit Granada Thursday at 6 p.m.
The Bottom Line: After being upset in a straight-sets loss to Carondelet last week, the Falcons seem to be back on track and once again sit alone at the top of the East Bay Athletic League standings
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Foothill High girls' volleyball coach Dusty Collins knows that the East Bay Athletic League has tough competition, and when his team lost in straight sets to underdog Carondelet last week, questions flew.
"I thought it was kind of funny. Everyone was asking 'what happened to us?' It was that Carondelet played well," he said. "We said that going into this league season that we felt like there are a handful of teams that had a legitimate chance at a league championship."
On Tuesday, the Falcons had a good bounce-back opportunity with a game against crosstown rival Amador Valley — arguably the EBAL's No. 2 squad.
The Falcons allowed the Dons back into the match after a tough third set, but flew away in the fourth to recapture the top spot in the EBAL with a 25-17, 25-21, 25-13, 25-16 victory.
"They're all important matches but obviously coming into this one both teams were 5-1. This was a big win to end the first half of the regular season," Collins said. "Hopefully we can take that momentum and set it into the second half."
With the energy at a high-pitch inside Amador's Skip Mohatt Gym, visiting Foothill took the first two sets, but the Dons charged back in the third set. The Dons jumped ahead 4-0, which turned into a 14-6 lead that turned out to be insurmountable for the Falcons to catch.
But tied 4-4 in the fourth, Foothill's Sarah Holmgren and Kirsten Desprez made a pair of desperation saves that kept the tied point alive. The Falcons would take it for a 5-4 lead and didn't look back.
The difference-maker in the match was Foothill's Caitlin Dewitt. She overpowered Amador's front-line defense with 17 kills.
"When she's hitting from a nice high spot, which she is capable of doing, there's not a lot teams are going to be able to do about it," Collins said. "Defensively, I thought they dug her up a few times, got some soft blocks, but she's a very special outside hitter."
She also played a part in stopping Amador's top offensive weapon, Rachel Kinnard. Dewitt finished with seven digs, most coming from Kinnard's kill shots. Kinnard equaled Dewitt's total of 17 kills, but had many more stopped by the Falcons' senior.
Dewitt was just happy to have finally beaten the Dons.
"Yes. I haven't actually beaten them in my high school career, so it's nice to finally have it done," she said.
Holmgren finished with 31 assists. Alexa Borg had nine kills and Casey Curtis recorded 18 service receptions.
Amador Valley coach Rich Cortez was disappointed that his team didn't play at higher level.
"We just got to get better. We struggled out of the gate," he said. "We couldn't get our offense going to the level that we needed to match the level that Foothill was doing."
Cortez wished his team would have done a better job of passing the ball as a team.
"They did a nice job defending against everything we did. They played well; I'm just disappointed that we didn't pass the ball a little better because it would have made a difference in our offense," he said.
Kinnard also finished with 10 digs and three blocks. Kelsey Williams had 28 assists, six kills, and three blocks. Nicole Powers lead the team with 20 digs and Marisol Tracy notched eight kills, five digs, and two aces.
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