Lady Pintos stumble in district tournament, lose in semifinals

Adrienne Strickfaden's spike is stuffed by Blair Oaks' front wall of Kellie Fredenhall and Rebecca Schroeder.
Adrienne Strickfaden's spike is stuffed by Blair Oaks' front wall of Kellie Fredenhall and Rebecca Schroeder.

The California Lady Pintos volleyball season ended with a bang in the District 12 tournament Oct. 21.

That bang, though, was the sound of repeated spikes from Blair Oaks outside hitters to go with stiff blocks in the middle, as the Lady Falcons cruised to a 25-5, 25-17 semifinal victory in Class 3 action.

The defeat came in the third meeting of the season between the two squads. The Lady Pintos won 2-0 Sept. 11; Blair Oaks came back for a 2-1 victory at the Versailles Invitational Tournament a month later.

"Everything we were able to do to them in that first game they were able to do to us tonight," said Lady Pintos Head Coach Julie Bailey.

The Pintos scored the opening point of the game on a Blair Oaks service error. That was the last bright spot of the first set for California. Behind the strong kills and blocks of sophomores Taylor Stockman and Ryan Dudenhoeffer and junior Allison Maxwell, the Lady Falcons ran off the next 17 points.

"We weren't passing the ball well and couldn't get the ball to our hitters," Bailey said.

A big reason for that was the purposeful effort to keep the ball away from sophomore libero Kayla Allison.

"A lot of teams think "She's small, she can't be any good,' but so much of what we do starts with Kayla. They knew that from having played us twice before this season," Bailey said.

Blair Oaks Head Coach Joy Northweather credited her team with executing the game plan.

"Ours girls know (Kayla), and they did a good job taking her out of the offense," she said.

With serves going anywhere but in Allison's vicinity, the Lady Pintos struggled to get the ball in a position where big-hitters Cameron Meyer and Adrienne Strickfaden, returning after a one-game absence from a concussion, could do anything with it.

"It was very frustrating feeling that I wasn't able to do what I normally do to help the team out," Allison said. "Sometimes it's hard to get going against a good team, and I think that's what happened tonight."

The Lady Falcons closed out the first set and were never threatened in the second.

"California definitely didn't have their best game tonight," Northweather said. "Tonight was just our night."

Blair Oaks' reward for beating California was a finals matchup with undefeated and state No. 1 ranked Helias, which beat Eldon to advance to the title game. The Lady Falcons lost in straight sets.