WATSONVILLE — Escalon High’s senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Herrera had a swing that would rival some of the best hitters in Santa Cruz County.
AnMei Dasbach-Prisk can vouch for it.
The Mt. Madonna Hawks’ sophomore libero took a direct shot to the face from Herrera early in Saturday’s match. She sat out one point to realign a contact lens and returned as good as new.
Maybe even better.
“The silver lining of that was that I knew I was lined up perfectly but I just took it at the wrong angle, right here,” said Dasbach-Prisk pointing to her face.
Dasbach-Prisk and the No. 3-seeded Hawks took the No. 11-seeded Cougars’ best shot right on the nose, literally, and they never flinched en route to a 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-14 win to advance to the California Interscholastic Federation Northern California Division V semifinals.
Their eyes might have watered a bit from the blow but they were never shaken.
Dasbach-Prisk’s resiliency after taking a ball to the beak was infectious. Mt. Madonna (16-11) bounced back after a match-opening loss and won the next three sets behind its defense and the lights-out hitting of outside hitters Mara Peruzzi and Paola Jacobs, whom hit .410 and .429, respectively.
Dasbach-Prisk finished with nine digs, including one against Herrera’s blistering strike midway through a match-sealing run in the fourth set.
“I think that fired her up and us, too,” said Mt. Madonna head coach Erin Mitchell. “She said afterwards, ‘I knew I was in the right spot. I just did it again the next time and moved my face a little bit.’ That’s definitely the best way to approach that situation, to rise from it. Let it motivate you.”
And if Saturday night’s win wasn’t motivating enough, the Hawks received another boost with No. 7 Clear Lake High’s four-set upset over No. 2 Durham High. The Cardinals’ victory means Mt. Madonna will host Tuesday’s semifinals in the “Hawks Nest.”
It is roughly a 205-mile trek from Lakeport to Watsonville.
“I think we’re a really good team and we’re going to show up really big,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs, a sophomore, had 19 kills, eight digs and four aces and Peruzzi, a junior, added 20 kills, 13 digs and two aces but neither could get into a rhythm early on, as the Cougars (18-12) knocked the Hawks out of system plenty with their hot serving in the first set.
Herrera blasted five crucial kills down the stretch and clinched the first-set win with an ace.
Mt. Madonna’s passing was much-improved in the second set, which was a back-and-forth affair with five lead changes. But with the set tied at 23-all, Peruzzi hammered home a kill down the line to give the Hawks the advantage. The Cougars hit into the net on the following point to give Mt. Madonna the win.
Escalon, a semifinalist in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV tournament, never recaptured the same offensive flow over the final two sets and Jacobs, Peruzzi and senior middle blocker Gracie Howley, who had seven kills, continuously punctured holes in the Cougars’ defense.
“We just didn’t play the way we have been playing the entire season,” said Escalon head coach Teresa Williamson. “[Mt. Madonna] showed up to play.”
Williamson and the Cougars advanced to the quarterfinal round with a four-set upset over No. 6 Justin-Siena in the first round. They had to travel roughly 100 miles from Escalon, which is located just north of Modesto, to Napa for that matchup on Wednesday and made the 120-mile drive into Santa Cruz County on Saturday.
Williamson said it was tricky to find Mt. Madonna through the winding mountainous roads but did not want to make excuses. The extended travel, she said, comes with the territory in the NorCal playoffs
“It’s on us,” Williamson said. “We were pretty on fire last game. We made very minimal mistakes and here we just made too many mistakes. We played too conservative. Too many tips and not enough swings.”
Senior setter Indigo Kelly had 40 assists for Mt. Madonna, which is trying to capture its first NorCal title since 2007. In that season, the Hawks filled up the gym with banners, winning league, section, NorCal and state championships.
Mt. Madonna finished tied for fourth in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and runner-up in the Central Coast Section Division V tournament this season. The NorCal and state titles, however, are still very much a possibility.
“We know we’re a good team,” Jacobs said. “We’ve played against the big teams and we’ve been right there with them. We know what we can do.”
Mitchell was along for the ride on the 2007 squad as the team’s star sophomore setter.
During that postseason run, the Hawks were road warriors. This time around, they could very well stay home through the entirety of the NorCal tournament, depending on what happens on the other side of the bracket between top-seeded San Marin High and No. 4 Berean Christian on Tuesday.
“It’s been said there’s some ju-ju up here,” Mitchell said. “People can believe whatever they want.”
