Benefield: El Molino, Ukiah set for volleyball showdown

Ukiah High volleyball coach Amanda Brown makes no bones about it - Thursday night is big.

“To me, this is the league championship game at home,” the third-year Wildcats coach said. “This would be the time to take it, that’s how I’m framing it.”

“It” is the matchup between the host Wildcats, reigning champs of the North Bay League-Redwood Division, and last year’s second-place finishers, the El Molino Lions.

Last year, the two teams split their series, but the second matchup came at the end of a crucial three-game skid suffered when Lions setter Kassidy Sani was out with an illness. It was too big of a deficit to make up in a 10-game league schedule and the Lions ended up with a 7-3 record while Ukiah finished at 8-2 and brought home the champions’ pennant.

It’s the same pennant Brown pulled out to drive home what is at stake Thursday when the two teams meet at 6 p.m.

“I brought out the pennant we won last year and said, ‘This is what is at stake,’” she said.

Ukiah may be the defending champs, but they may very well have their work cut out for them, even at home. The Lions have run off a 13-4 overall record and are 1-0 early in division play after beating Rancho Cotate in straight sets Tuesday, 25-19, 25-23, 25-19.

“We didn’t play very well and we still beat them,” Lions coach Becky Sani said.

Sani, in her fourth year as varsity head coach, has plenty of tools at her disposal.

Her daughter, multi-sport standout Kassidy, has moved from setter to outside hitter this season. But if truth be told, she can play anywhere.

“She has gotten so much more powerful. It doesn’t matter where I play her on the court, she dominates,” Sani said.

Another big hitter? Senior Sasha Senal.

“She is probably our most ‘Wow’ hitter,” Sani said. “She hits with a lot of force.”

At the Fort Bragg tournament that both teams attended, Brown saw as much.

“They are a powerful hitting team,” she said. “They are going to find the spots on the court. We have to set it up on defense.”

Into the Lions’ setter’s spot has moved junior Grace McCormick and the transition has been smooth, according to Sani.

But Sani’s biggest surprise of the early season has been junior Yasmin Sierra, who plays libero.

“That was really kind of my hole in the program,” Sani said. Not anymore.

“She’s jumping in front of other people to make a pass because she knows she can do it,” she said. “She’s got a great serve, she’s super aggressive. She’s doing a fantastic job.”

But being defending league champs, playing at home and owning a 9-8 overall mark and a 1-0 league record all make Ukiah a threat. A considerable one.

“This is absolutely a budding rivalry,” Brown said. “This is a big game for us.”

Which is why seeing her four-year varsity setter Victoria Ruiz go down with a knee injury in the Wildcats’ 3-2 win over visiting Analy last week was so devastating. Ruiz has long been the Wildcats’ steady hand.

“They can pass the ball in any direction and Vickie can make something out of it,” Brown said.

Not so anymore.

“I said, ‘You have to pass the ball perfectly. There is no room for error,’” she told her team.

The silver lining? The Wildcats held firm against the Tigers, even after losing Ruiz.

“They came back and we beat Analy. I don’t even know the last time we beat Analy,” she said. “I am hoping we can sustain that (Thursday).”

It won’t be easy. It took the Wildcats five games to dispatch Analy (19-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 15-13). When the Lions played Analy on Sept. 17 they made it look considerably easier: 25-17, 25-7, 25-19.

If we look at comparable opponents, El Molino looks to have the advantage. Both Ukiah and El Molino have beaten Fort Bragg, Upper Lake and Analy. And both squads lost to Maria Carrillo in straight sets. But the Lions pull ahead here: They beat Roseland University Prep twice (3-0 and 2-0) while Ukiah fell to the Knights 2-0. And El Molino beat Clear Lake 2-0 while Ukiah lost 2-1.

But Brown likes her crew and likes the fight they have shown in the preseason in a schedule dominated by teams from the NBL-Oak Division.

“I want to play those girls,” she said.

The Wildcats are led offensively by Kirstin Johnson’s 106 kills - just shy of three per set.

But behind that, Ukiah has a slew of capable hitters: Senior Madison Cathey (46 kills), sophomore Naomi Lunceford (45 kills), sophomore Zoey White (29 kills), junior Payton Ford (26 kills) and junior Kera Tellestrom (25 kills).

Both of these squads are playoff contenders and both make no bones about thinking that far ahead. For her part, Sani even encourages it.

“We set our sights, right off the bat, on winning the pennant and getting a home playoff game,” Sani said.

Volleyball fans may remember that the Lions had to travel in the first round of playoffs last year - a detail that likely played a crucial role in the outcome. The Lions had earned the eighth seed in the Division 4 tournament but were not league champs, so they had to travel to Vallejo - where they were felled in the first round 3-0 by ninth seed St. Patrick-St. Vincent.

Ukiah made the Division 2 North Coast Section playoffs last season as the 12th seed, but lost 3-1 in the first round to the fifth seed, Washington High.

But playoffs are a world away. The biggest battle in the quest for a league pennant is tonight.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield. Podcasting on iTunes and SoundCloud, “Overtime with Kerry Benefield.”