Sutter stakes place in section championship

Despite being the No. 1 seed in the Northern Section division IV playoffs, the Sutter High Huskies girls volleyball team knows every opponent it will face en route toward a section championship will pose a challenge.

Tuesday night's semifinal matchup with No. 4 Central Valley was evidence of that. It was a very competitive contest, but in the end, the Huskies prevailed in four games 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, 25-22 to advance to the championship game against West Valley Saturday afternoon in Red Bluff.

"I knew this was going to be tough," said Huskies coach Ann Reynolds. "They have a player in Brenna Mackie who is very good."

The tallest player on either team, Mackie single-handedly kept the Falcons in each game with her kill shots and her blocks.

"Everything they do goes through her," Reynolds said. "I was hoping fatigue would set in as the games went on, and I think it did by the final game."

As for her own team, Reynolds pointed out they made some rare mistakes they haven't been making all year.

"We made a few serving and passing errors, but overall we hung in there and did a good job. It just goes to show the pressure of playing in the playoffs."

Audrey Durfor was the top server for the Huskies with 15 points and 4 aces. Brenna McDonald served up nine points and two aces. Shaia Gidel led the team with five aces.

In game one, the Huskies led from start to finish. Katelyn Olson got things going with a pair of kills while Durfor served up four straight winning points. Olson finished with 11 kills and one block.

Gidel finished off the first game with five straight points to go with a pair of kills that ended short scoring runs by Central Valley.

Game two was much tougher as the Falcons got off to a 4-1 lead. McDonald broke the run with a hard kill that richoceted off a defender's body. The game stayed close throughout with seven lead-changes before Jennifer Wood hit a tap over to give the Huskies a 21-20. McDonald served an ace and Dana Denton finished the game off with a well-placed kill in front of the Falcon's back line.

Sutter had only one lead in game three and that was 2-1. Mackie dominated along the front as the Falcons held the lead throughout. The Huskies did manage to tie the game at 20-20, but Central Valley forced some errors by Sutter to win 25-21 to avoid the sweep.

"I was disappointed we lost the third game," said Reynolds. "We had them up two games to zero and we let them back in the match. There were a lot of mistakes we made in that game."

The final game was a game of scoring runs. Sutter got off to a quick 3-1 lead only to see the Falcons rip off seven straight points and lead 8-3. The Huskies battled back as Gidel served a pair of aces to tie the game at 9-9. Durfor had a nice run serving the ball to give the Huskies a 16-13 lead. Olson had a tip over during the run.

The Falcons hung tough and tied the game at 20-20. But with McDonald serving, Sutter scored a pair of points on unforced Falcon errors and a kill by Olson. That set up the match winner served by Alli Foster.

"In the fourth game, I told the girls to play aggressively and hit the ball right at them," added Reynolds.

Durfor had 18 digs to pace Sutter. Kamalei Clifton set her teammates up with 35 assists.