ELK GROVE, Calif. – Senior outside hitter Olivia Mlikotin and junior middle blocker Lily Zeff combined for 21 kills and a .528 hitting average, leading St. Francis to a 25-13, 25-17, 25-17 sweep of Elk Grove in the varsity finale of a Delta League girls' volleyball tripleheader Thursday night.
The Troubadours improve to 17-7 overall and 9-1 in conference play, staying a win ahead of Pleasant Grove atop the Delta League standings.
Both SFHS junior varsity and frosh squads also won in straight sets. The Troubie frosh ran away with a 25-13, 25-5 sweep in the opener, then the jayvees prevailed with equal dominance with scores of 25-9, 25-11. Those two teams improve to 28-4 and 26-2, respectively, for the season.
"Overall, I like the fact that we implemented some of the things we worked on in practice. That was nice to see," said varsity head coach Alynn Wright. "If I had to give them a grade, it would be about a B-minus. It was better than what we did on Tuesday, but not nearly where need to be and what we need to bring on Saturday.
"We did some things well. I thought we had some better connections with our middles, which is good. We've been working on that. Defensively, I'd like us to be scrappier than what we were tonight. I thought Liv did a really good job serving and mixing up her swings. Caroline [Foraker] did a good job hitting areas that she hadn't been hitting."
Mlikotin tallied 12 kills with just one error while serving up eight of her team's 13 aces. Zeff hit 9-1-11 while added two solo stuff blocks. Junior opposite Caroline Foraker provided another 11 kills on a team-high 29 swings. In all, St. Francis hit .297 as a team, mostly behind the setting of junior Kelsey Magley (25 assists).
Mlikotin posted half of her kills in the opening set, scoring from both the front and back rows while adding two aces from the service line. Three such kills came in a 7-0 finish, while fellow senior Charlise Rowe and Zeff each peppered the EG defense with two kills in that stretch.
However, the Troubies ran afoul midway through the second set, briefly falling to an 11-10 deficit after spotting Elk Grove four straight points on unforced errors. Foraker ended the cold stretch with a kill to equalize at 11-11, the Mlikotin served up an ace to regain the lead. Veronica Datwyler later served up a run of four straight points to extend the SF advantage to 18-13. Zeff scored two kills to lift the Troubies to a 24-17 set point, then Foraker's slide finished the task to set the match score at 2-0.
St. Francis also needed a late surge to take the third set, as an 8-3 lead withered to a 12-12 tie, thanks to four kills from Elk Grove junior Hadlee Gray. Mlikotin served up three straight aces as part of a 5-0 run that restored the Troubie lead to 17-12. Gray had four more kills down the final stretch, but St. Francis managed to protect its cushion for the remainder of the match. Zeff had two kills, combined with setter Kate Fobes on a block, then served up an ace for the 25th point.
Mlikotin's eight aces doubled her previous high, which she did twice as a senior and twice as a junior.
The service line played heavily in the frosh win to start Thursday's tripleheader. Justine Stegall had three aces with three kills in the 25-13 opener, while St. Francis picked up five free points off of Thundering Herd service errors. Then in the second set, Colleen Medina had four straight aces in the team's 10-1 start, while Ellie Schaerli finished the match with seven straight aces. Her kill by the left pin converted a side out at 17-5 and put herself at the service line. Middle blocker Antonija Jezildzic made it 18-5 with her smackdown on a two set. Schaerli served back-to-back aces to force Elk Grove to take a timeout. Then she proceeded to churn out five more after that break.
In the JV matchup, St. Francis effectively scored all of the points for both teams in the first set. Jessica Dillie had four kills in that frame, while Natalie Sandoval added a pair of kills and another ace. But all nine Elk Grove points in the 25-9 Troubie win came on service errors and attacking errors by the guests.
In fact, the Herd did not score an "earned" point until the 7-6 mark of the second set, thanks to Savannah Oporko's ace. That came as part of a 3-0 run to tie the frame at 7-7, but Dillie answered with three kills in a 7-1 Troubie outburst, putting her team back on top, 15-8. St. Francis scored another six unanswered on the strength of setter Makenna Edwards' serving to help close out the proceedings.
The Troubie jayvees and frosh each improve to 10-0 in league play for the year.
With only one week remaining on the Delta League slate, all three teams return to action in the highly anticipated "Holy Court" matchup with Christian Brothers, held at Cosumnes River College this Saturday. Coach Wright hopes the timing of this year's rivalry match will help her team get on the right track for the closing weeks of the regular season and into the postseason.
"This is the match all of the kids look forward to each year," said Wright. "I want them to play with the intensity and passion and love of the sport I know they have. They remember the Holy Court match, the crowd, the noise... the fun. It's a good time to have this match, going into the playoffs."
Match times at CRC are 4 p.m. for frosh, 5 p.m. for JV and 6 p.m. for varsity. Tickets are available at TicketSpice at https://christianbrothershighscho.ticketspice.com/holy-court-2022-volleyball-sfhs. Use the password "Troubie22HolyCourt" for access to the ticketing page.
