Lancers again fall to Mitty, this time in NorCal final

By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer

There was just no way of getting around Mitty.

The St. Francis High girls faced the Monarchs for the sixth time this season - in last week’s Northern California Division II volleyball championship - and for the sixth time they went down to defeat.

Host Mitty swept St. Francis 25-15, 25-6, 25-16 to claim the NorCal crown Nov. 28. The top-seeded Monarchs, who previously beat the Lancers in the Central Coast Section final, improved to 38-1. No. 2 St. Francis ended its season at 35-8.

The Lancers knew it would take a near-perfect effort to topple Mitty, which swept them three times before, but they failed to deliver.

“Overall, it was not one of our best team performances,” St. Francis coach Kim Oden said. “It wasn’t our night.”

Amanda Gil, Mitty’s 6-foot-5 middle blocker, again proved too much for shorter St. Francis to handle. She posted a match-high 15 kills and eight blocks.

The Lancers led 9-8 in the first game, then the Monarchs began a devastating run behind Gil to seize control.

“I don’t know what happened,” Oden said of the collapse. “Mitty stepped up, and we got tentative and couldn’t get anything going.”

The loss lingered into the second game for St. Francis, which fell behind early and never recovered.

“We were hoping to pull out of it, but it never seemed to happened,” Oden said. “Mitty capitalized on every opportunity.”

The Lancers showed signs of life in the third game, playing the Monarchs close for half of it.

“We were able to compete a little better,” Oden said. “We fought at the beginning pretty well, but then we made too many errors.”

St. Francis was led by outside hitter Lexi Aiassa and setter Ashley Malone, who had four kills each.

Middle blocker Nicole Merslich - who Oden said “did a good job” - had three kills.

Emily Ettel posted a team-high 14 assists.

Although the season ended a match sooner than the Lancers would have liked, their coach was pleased with what the team accomplished.

“We had a great season,” Oden said. “I’m very proud of the kids and the program.”

St. Francis graduates seven players, but there’s good reason to be optimistic about next year. The Lancers’ junior varsity and freshmen teams are coming off league-championship seasons.

“I’m excited about the future of the program,” Oden said.