Pirates set for postseason return

Taft College needed a win to keep its slim playoff chances alive, but ran into a sound Porterville College team on its sophomore night.

The Cougars (12-12, 8-6 CVC), down two games, were on the verge of certain elimination when PC countered its 8-0 run with one of its own.

PC (17-5, 11-3 CVC), however couldn’t close the door in game three and allowed Taft to take a one-point lead in extra time, putting itself a shot away from having to line up for a fourth.

But sophomore middle blocker Olga Velasquez, playing in her final game in PC’s gym, fired a shot the Taft defense couldn’t return and, following a Tracey Lewis hitting error, smashed her last kill in the gym to give the Pirates an exhausting 28-26 win, sealing the 3-0 sweep, Wednesday night.

Velasquez, who had 17 kills on the night, was close to forgoing her final year of volleyball eligibility to play basketball at a four-year school before the season started. Now, she’s glad she stuck around for a third year in the Central Valley.

“I was very confused about it. Whenever I came back at the beginning of the season, I was wondering, ‘Is this what I really wanted?’ I couldn’t go back and change anything, but I’m happy I came back and played one more year of volleyball,” she said.

Entertaining potential opportunities at Concordia, Claremont and Missouri Valley colleges, Velasquez opted to see if she could be on a playoff-caliber team. Months later, she’s the centerpiece of coach Dale Henderson’s second-place-finishing (in the CVC) squad that’s headed to the Northern California playoffs for the first time since 2005.

“I’m ecstatic,” Henderson said. “I am enthused for the girls, for the school, for the team and the program. It’s amazing. To finish 17-5 and 11-3 in conference is an excellent feeling. Especially going from my first year two years ago at 2-20.”

The Pirates led 10-7, but surrendered the lead after the 8-0 Cougar run.

Two serve-receive mishaps coupled with two straight blasts by Courtney Dickerson put the Cougars up 15-11. Freshman Pirate Katrina Goulbourne then triggered a complete momentum reversal by getting consecutive kills, which were followed by two more Velasquez slams and a Sabina Lopez ace, giving the Pirates a 19-15 advantage.

The teams traded points until Evan Dillon’s back-to-back kills gave PC a 24-22 lead that set up match point. Morgan Blair would keep Taft alive with a kill that was followed by a PC hitting error, giving the Cougars the chance, at 25-24, to take the game.

Goulbourne’s tip tied the game, but a Velasquez hitting error put Taft in the catbird seat yet again. Velasquez atoned for the error by firing a shot that three Taft defenders couldn’t send back and finished things with a shot that nicked a Cougar defender before soaring out of bounds.

“It was a nail-biter,” Henderson said. “I thought we would’ve finished it off. When it was like 24-23, I thought we would get that last point and it would be over. But we had to fight. The good thing is we didn’t get down. We didn’t let them take it to four, they stayed with it and I was impressed with their effort.”

Taft, after getting buried, 25-11, in game one, had a shot at stealing the second game as well, as it led PC 19-18. A rare Sabina Lopez kill was followed by quick shots from Velasquez and Goulbourne and the Pirates, suddenly, enjoyed a 5-0 run. Goulbourne finished the match with another quick kill to give PC a commanding lead.

Henderson said the instant blasts have been a point of emphasis in practice this week.

“A lot of quicks and that’s what we’ve been working on the last four days of practice: nothing but quick drills,” he said.

Velasquez, who has 55 kills in her last three games, kept adjusting her angles to throw off the Taft front row.

“I was just turning (the ball),” she said. “The first time, they were on my right side then I’d hit it to my left. Then the second time, they would come to my left side and I’d hit it to my right side. I just kept messing with their heads.”

Nansi Reyes, literally, messed with one of the umpires’ heads when, after Lopez and Dillon made diving saves from the front row of the bleachers, the sophomore tried to build on the ex-Monarchs’ efforts but her shot was off target, drilling the umpire in the face, giving Taft a game-two point.

“Bingo! That was just a bingo play,” Velasquez joked.

Zori Hernandez laid the foundation for the Pirates’ comfortable game-one win with three aces, keying a 9-0 run to start the match.

Goulbourne finished with nine kills, seven digs and four blocks while Dillon also tallied nine kills, but with 11 digs. Laura Lopez, who leads the conference in assists, got 35 more while also tallying four kills. Sabina Lopez led with 24 digs.

PC will find out where it’s headed in Saturday’s seeding meeting.

Henderson is seeing his team continue to improve and sees no reason it couldn’t pull a modest upset on the road.

“If we go out and play a 7 or an 8 seed, I think we have an excellent chance of knocking them off,” he said. “The girls are still hungry. At this time of the season, usually they’re ready to quit, ready to give up; they’re getting tired and burnt out, but they’re still hungry, they’re still focused in practice and everybody’s still ready to play.”