By Robert Perea
The Fernley girls volleyball team won its opening match of the 3A Northern Regional Tournament Monday night, earning a spot in the semifinals on Friday in Elko.
The Vaqueros, the No. 2 seed from the Northern 3A East, beat Incline 3-1 (25-22, 25-13, 21-25, 25-16).
The Vaqueros capitalized on their serving, consistently scoring multiple points on each rotation.
“We served, I think, pretty good the whole night,” coach Diane Chapin said. “We had a few missed serves, but more or less because they were trying to make them challenging. But once we limited our mistakes, we did a lot better and started working together.”
The exception was the third set, when the Vaqueros got out of rhythm after Grace Chapin landed on another player’s foot and rolled her ankle. The Vaqueros were leading 9-8 after the play she was injured, but Incline tied the score on the next serve and never trailed again. The Vaqueros tied the set 19-19, but Incline scored six of the next eight points to force a fourth set.
But after trailing 6-5 in the fourth set, the Vaqueros went on a 11-3 run to take control, then finished by outscoring Incline 9-3 after the Highlanders pulled within 16-13.
“We had to make an adjustment when the injury happened and we took us a minute so probably why we dropped that set, and I messed up the rotation in the last one, so that’s why we were a little scatterbrained, but it didn’t kill us at all,” Diane Chapin said.
Setter Alauna Escartin kept the attack rolling with 28 assists, surpassing 1,000 for her high school career.
“That’s a kind of amazing feat because the first two years she was running basically kind of a 6-2, and the first half of the season we ran the 6-2, and then we switched her over to a 5-1 later on as she got in better shape, and she’s been doing phenomenal,” Chapin said.
A 6-2 formation in volleyball uses two setters and always has three front row attackers available because the setters set from the back row. In a 5-1, the setter rotates through all six positions on the court and sets even when she rotates to the front row.
Chapin said the system works because although there’s only two hitters when Escartin rotates to the front, she is tall enough to block and can hit when another player handles the ball.
“She’s a good and smart volleyball player, so even in the front row, she’s not going to hurt us as far as size wise because she knows she can go out and block, she can go up and hit, so she knows the game,” Chapin said. “And I think her presence on the court keeps us stronger throughout the whole thing with her on there the whole time.”
Trista Menesini led the Vaqueros with 16 kills, Lilliana Young had 7 and Chapin had five before she left the match. In all the Vaqueros had 38 kills, and their depth ensures they always have at least two strong hitters in the front row.
“We try to keep it so that we’re pretty strong throughout the whole time and have some options for our setter all the time,” Chapin said.
The Vaqueros now advance to the regional semifinals in Elko, where they will face Truckee at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Truckee beat Elko in three sets Monday night. In the other semifinal, North No. 1 seed Fallon beat Wooster in three sets on Monday and will play Dayton, which beat South Tahoe in five sets.
Friday’s winners will both qualify for the 3A State Tournament and play for the Region Championship at noon Saturday.
“We beat Truckee earlier in the year, so I think we have a good chance if we play like we can and limit our mistakes,” Chapin said.
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