California Lady Pintos volleyball had steamrolled through the season going into the Class 3 District 8 Tournament. First, the Lady Pintos took a field trip on Oct. 15 to Versailles and won six matches to take home the Versailles Invitational title. Then, California sent their seniors off in style on Oct. 18 with a resounding 3-0 (25-10, 25-9, 25-8) over the Hallsville Lady Indians on senior night.
California entered the District Tournament as the #2 seed and earned a first round bye into the semifinals. They took on the Fatima Lady Comets, with the winner advancing the championship match to play defending state champion Blair Oaks for the district title. California took command of the Fatima match right from the start, dispatching the Lady Comets 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-14). California now had another shot at Blair Oaks with a berth in the Class 3 State Tournament up for grabs.
The championship match started off with both teams going back and forth with Blair Oaks grabbing a slim two-point lead at 10-8. Then California started to turn the tide of the game in their favor and took advantage of some defensive mistakes by the Lady Falcons. California jumped out to a 16-11 lead and forced the Lady Falcons to take an early timeout. Out of the timeout, California extended their lead to 18-11 and were in control on the set. However, Blair Oaks was not faced by the seven-point deficit and start to make a comeback. Led by resiliency of seniors Autumn Bax, Bailey Braun, and Tayla Prenger, Blair Oaks rallied back to take the lead. With Bax completing the comeback on a spike after a dig by California where the ball just made it over the net. Blair Oaks took the first set away from California 26-24.
California Head Coach Julie Bailey said the Lady Pintos came out of the gate ready to play and the team was confident they could stand up to the defending state champions, even if the first set did slip away from them.
"They definitely believed that they could beat Blair Oaks and they came out strong an energized in the first set. They had the right mindset," Bailey said. "We got off to a good start in the first set, but we had some unforced errors that let Blair Oaks back in the game. They started getting Bailey (Braun) the ball more and avoid our blocks. Bailey was getting kills, Autumn (Bax) was getting kills, and we were also struggling with our passes, which hurt us."
In the second set, Blair Oaks once again controlled the pace of the match and led by as many as seven points. California had to burn both of their timeouts, but stayed with striking distance. The Lady Pintos got to within a point at 21-20, but were unable to make up any more ground. Blair Oaks took the second set 25-20.
Early in the third set, disaster struck California when junior outside-hitter Isabella Kincaid dove on the ground for a loose ball and busted her chin. Kincaid had to leave the court with a bloody chin and was questionable to return. With Kincaid in the locker room, Blair Oaks took advantage and went on a 6-2 run to take an early 10-3 lead. To everyone's surprise, Kincaid came out of the locker room with a band-aid on her chin and ready to play again. It was a dramatic return for Kincaid and it ignited a spark in the Lady Pintos. However, Blair Oaks showed no signs of letting up in their attack. In the end, the Lady Falcons were too much for the Lady Pintos and Blair Oaks took home the Class 3 District 8 title with a 25-11 win in the third set and a 3-0 win in the match.
Blair Oaks has now won 21 of the last 27 games against California and five of the last six games in the playoffs. It was a bitter end to one of the best seasons in California volleyball history. Sometimes when a team is down in a match and having trouble coming back, that team can mentally concede to their opponent. Bailey didn't feel that California conceded to Blair Oaks in Monday night's match. Bailey's take was California stayed mentally tough throughout the match and it became a great help to the team's morale when Kincaid returned to the court.
"I don't think we conceded at all during the match. We might have come close to that after Isabella got hurt. I think our girls got down when Isabella came off the court. She busted her chin diving for that loose ball and she'll probably have to have stitches on it," Bailey said. "She didn't want to stop even though she was crying after it happened. I though she was crying because she was hurt, but she was saying, 'I just want to go back in. I just want to go back in. Can I go back in?', Other than that moment, we didn't concede to Blair Oaks. They just beat us."
For the fifth time in 13 years, California's season came to an end at the hands of Blair Oaks in the playoffs. However, Bailey said that even though the ending to the Lady Pintos' season was not a storybook ending, it was still a storybook season. California final record is for the 2022 season is 31-3-1. Along the way, California won three tournaments, had three players (Lauren Friedrich, Abby Trachsel, and Emma Whitson) win their 100th career game in October, and the team was ranked #4 in Class 3 volleyball before Monday night. Bailey called the season a successful one and hopes to continue the success in 2023.
"We did some amazing things this year. We won three tournaments this year, which we've never done before. I've never gotten to 31 wins, that's a personal record for me. I don't know if it's a school record. It wouldn't surprise me if it is a school record because we normally don't get to play this many games. I tried to tell our girls after the game that you can't base your season or your career on one game. Whether that game is the final game of the year or not," Bailey said. "I also told the girls that this is what hard work looks like. It's not the ideal way that you want a season to end, but most of these girls started volleyball at nine years. Now look where they are. I hope they realize what hard work does for them in volleyball and in life after volleyball, this is what it does. Hard work does pays off. We're still a great team, even if we are losing four great athletes and young adults next year. We'll be back next year and we're going to go after it again."
After suffering a busted chin earlier in the match, junior Isabella Kincaid returns to the Lady Pintos lineup and gets an ovation from the crowd. Kincaid had seven kills against the Lady Falcons on Monday night. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The Lady Pintos took care of Fatima 3-0 (25-10, 25-11, 25-14) on Saturday to advance to the Class 3 District 8 championship. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Lauren Friedrich is hugged by teammate Macie Trimble during California's senior night against Hallsville. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The California Lady Pintos are honored before California match on senior night against the Hallsville Lady Indians. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Macie Trimble opens the match against Fatima with the match-opening serve. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Isabella Kincaid had nine kills in California semifinal win over the Fatima Lady Comets. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Lauren Friedrich had 14 kills and 3 blocks against the Fatima Lady Comets on Saturday afternoon. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Abby Trachsel recorded 13 digs against Fatima in the Class 3 District 8 semifinals. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Emma Whitson makes a kill for the Lady Pintos in the third set against Fatima. Whitson had three kills and 13 assists against the Lady Comets. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Lady Pintos head coach Julie Bailey calls a timeout to help her team regroup against Blair Oaks. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Emma Whitson had two aces in the second set against Blair Oaks in the Class 3 District 8 championship match. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Lauren Friedrich makes a kill in the third set to keep California alive in the district championship match against Blair Oaks. Friedrich had eight kills against the Lady Falcons and averaged nine kills a game during the 2022 season. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The Lady Pintos hold a team huddle before they take on the Blair Oaks Lady Falcons in the Class 3 District 8 championship match. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The Lady Pintos started get together for a team huddle before the district championship match against Blair Oaks. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Macie Trimble (middle) gives the Lady Pintos a 14-10 lead in the first set with a block on Blair Oaks senior Anne Wekenborg. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Penelope Cotten takes a warm-up serve before California's championship match against Blair Oaks. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)