Hamilton dream ends in state playoff game

The Northern Section's Division V volleyball champion, Hamilton High School, was seeded third in Northern California for the CIF's state playoffs.

The Lady Braves hosted the No. 6 Central Coast Section runnerup, Castilleja of Palo Alto, on Tuesday night and were swept in three games 23-25, 12-25, 22-25. The consistency that carried the Lady Braves to 34 victories this season, by far the most of the division's state-bound teams, was remarkably absent. Hamilton needed to play its absolute best to compete at this elite level, but instead struggled to achieve a par effort.

That would have been enough to stay unbeaten on any given day in the Lady Braves' Mid-Valley League, even against the NSCIF runner-up and second-place MVL finisher, East Nicolaus, but this night was different.

The Lady Gators, despite coming in with a paltry mark of 14-16, proved to be Hamilton's most formidable foe of the year, the only team to win three straight games against them in 40 matches.

Hamilton was hot out of the gate, winning four consecutive rallies in the first game, but the Lady Braves got a reality check when their patented outside attack from the left side was stuffed for a point-scoring block. And with a 4-1 lead, the Lady Braves knew they were in for the fight of their lives.

Castilleja took the lead with another block at 9-8, utilizing superior size with a pair of 6-foot stars, and the teams traded blows with Hamilton finally pulling ahead again at 20-19.

Leading 21-20, the Lady Braves experienced a microcosm of their night's troubles: a service error, shanked pass, double set and hitting error all in a row to face game point.

A pass that was aided by the retracted basketball backboard kept Hamilton alive, and Aubrey Bekendam's tip brought the score to 23-24, but a Castilleja kill ended the first round.

Despite outstanding defense by Jessekah McCorkle and Brittany Hall, Hamilton tanked in the second game, losing by a season-high 13 points. The highlight for Hamilton was McCorkle's back-row heroics.

On one play, she dove to dig a deep serve, a teammate scrambled to field the pass, sending it back her direction, and from her knees McCorkle managed to volley it back over the net.

It was a terrific rally, one of many throughout the night, but Castilleja ended up winning the point.

And so went game three.

The Lady Braves trailed the entire time, down by three or four but never out, until Castilleja reached 25 to clinch the match. Hamilton never lost an ounce of fight, as it seemed if the score had gone to 100, the Lady Braves still would have only lost by three points.

The Lady Gators' largest lead in the game was six points, but every time Castilleja started a rally, Hamilton battled back with a string of jawdropping plays to claw within three again.

Elyse Anderson paced the Lady Braves with nine kills in the match and teammate Devoney Platt led the back row with 10 digs.

Hamilton's dream season ends with a record of 34-6 (10-0 MVL), while Castilleja improved to 15-16 and plays in the NorCal semifinals on Saturday at Marin Catholic