St. Vincent's volleyball run comes to end in NorCal playoffs

Playing in the second round of the CIF NorCal tournament, St. Vincent's Mustangs lost a heartbreaking 3-2 match to the Colfax Falcons in Division V on Thursday night.

The loss ended the season for the North Central League II champion Mustangs, who finish with a 25-8 record, a second-place finish in the North Coast Section and a 1-1 mark in the Northern California championships.

St. Vincent started Thursday's match on the Colfax court with an impressive 25-13 win in in the first set. Colfax rebounded to win 25-17 and then won a thriller in the pivotal third set, 28-26. St. Vincent tied the match with a 25-16 win in the third set, but Colfax prevailed in the fifth and deciding set, 15-12.

Season-long leader Amanda Zeryny again led the Mustangs with 30 kills and 30 digs. Alexandra Saisi set up many of the Mustangs' points with 25 assists. Sarah Sarlatte contributed 36 digs and Grace Hood had 30.

Freshman Katarina Cespedes made three crucial blocks at key times during the game and spark plug Grace Woener had an excellent all-around game in the backcourt.

Colfax, from the Sac-Joaquin Section, is now 25-12 for the season, and will play in the semifinals Saturday against Le Grand, a 3-0 winner over Mt. Madonna from Watsonville Thursday night.