By Mike Finnerty
mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com
The 2010 girl’s volleyball season ended on a disappointing note for the Union Mine Diamondbacks thanks to a 4-1 loss to Vista Del Lago in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship.
This year, Union Mine moved from Division III to Division IV, but more importantly the Diamondbacks came back this season a year older, a year wiser, and section championship tested. That experience experience would serve as the spark Union Mine need to get a 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 25-15) win over the Bear River Bruins for the Division IV section title.
“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Union Mine’s Mikayla Tucker. “I’m so happy, so proud of my team. It (last year’s DIII loss) was such a motivator for this entire season and when we got here it’s what pushed us through that fourth game, to finally win a section title.”
Union Mine held slim leads of 7-5 and 11-8 in Game 1, but they lead grew to 22-15 before closing out the opening game with a 25-18 win. Game 2 was similar with Union Mine prevailing 25-19, but the Bruins battled to take Game 3 putting the breaks on what looked to be a three-game sweep.
“Our history over the season has been slacking off a little bit in the third game, and letting teams come back, but after that, in my mind, I was just thinking that nothing was going to stop me from getting this championship,” said Tucker.
Diamondbacks head coach Mike Yates new that his best players would need to come up big in Game 4.
“The thing I keep driving into the players is championship players show up in championship moments, and it’s a perfect example with Mikayla,” said Yates. “In the fourth game she got eight or nine kills, managed to get game point. Malia Gonzales going back and getting four aces right there at the end. We really proved we deserved the banner in Game 4 by coming out hard.”
The dominant player in the match was Tucker, just as she as she been throughout her career at Union Mine. Time and again it was Tucker blasting kills from all over the court.
At the net it was Jacqueline Swarbrick making an impact on the game on both defense as well as offense.
Setting up Tucker and her teammates for easy scoring opportunities was co-captain Lea Howton, one picture perfect pass after the next.
Maddy Berridge, Savannah Rye, and Sarah Phillis all contributed to the defensive effort for the Diamondbacks.
Fittingly, it was Tucker who delivered the game-winning shot down the left side to prevail 25-15. Tucker fell to the floor in relief and was then joined by Berridge and Rye, a moment of celebration for a team and a school that had just won its first section title.
Union Mine will host its NorCal playoff opener on Tuesday. Brackets will be announced November 20 at 4:00pm.