EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. - Senior libero Jacqueline Smith scooped up a team-leading 18 digs to lead three Troubadours in double digits, but St. Francis hit just .009 as a team in falling in straight sets, 25-21, 25-17, 25-19, to Oak Ridge in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I girls' volleyball championship quarterfinal Thursday night.

The sixth-seeded Troubies finish their final season under legendary head coach Alynn Wright with a 25-9 overall record. The No. 3 Trojans improve to 19-10 overall. This is the fourth time in the past five tournaments that the two teams have met, although the first in that span that was not in the section title match. In fact, it marks a rare occurrence that SF has traveled to ORHS for a postseason match, as the previous 10 meetings had either taken place in the section final (UC Davis or Natomas High) or at St. Francis.

Smith's 18 gets were part of 64 total for the Troubies, along with setter Kelsey Magley (11) and junior specialist Isabella Ramos (11). Junior outside hitter Natalie Sandoval, who led the offense with eight kills, added another nine. Smith also had three aces, as did senior Veronica Datwyler. Senior middle blocker Amanda Silber totaled three blocks, with fellow senior Lily Zeff – a former Trojan player herself – added two more.

Silber had back-to-back stuffs and Smith served consecutive aces in a wild first set that featured eight ties and six lead changes. The last such shift came during a 6-0 Trojan run that flipped an 18-16 Troubie lead into a 22-18 Trojan advantage. Senior Elle Weaver had the equalizer at 18-18, then Kali Larson served two aces to highlight the ORHS separation.

Senior Lana Ezeani hit a four ball for a kill to open the second, and Zeff later teamed with freshman Hailey Sutton on a block to make it 5-4 for St. Francis, but Oak Ridge capitalized on nine Troubie attacking errors (two against Trojan blocks) and three service errors in pulling away to an eight-point win and a 2-0 match lead.

SF showed some early mettle in the third frame, with Sandoval teaming up with Silber for a block, scoring a tool and serving up an ace to lead a Troubie comeback from a 6-3 deficit to an 11-11 tie. Then Weaver responded with four kills in the span of eight points, lifting Oak Ridge back to an 18-12 advantage. St. Francis managed to pull within four points four times in the final stretch but never cut the margin any further. Weaver closed out the match with another tool to complete the sweep.

Tuesday's quarterfinal closed out the careers of eight seniors – Datwyler, Ezeani, Magley, Silber, Smith, Zeff, Caroline Foraker and Mila Stojakovic – in addition to that of their coach. Alynn Wright mentored 35 years of SF volleyball players to a litany of accomplishments, most notably 13 section championships and the 2005 Division III state title.

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