EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – Libero Josie Kyaw assisted Georgi Williams on a kill for match point then delivered the winning ace, as St. Francis frosh swept St. Mary's by scores of 25-22, 25-13 in the Gold title match of Oak Ridge High's Christine Craft Memorial Frosh Invitational Saturday.
The Troubadours improve to 15-2 for the season. The Craft tourneys are named in memory of a great Lancer player from the 1980s. St. Francis last competed in the event as a split squad in 2022, with one of the two teams going on to capture the Silver bracket championship that year.
Oddly, the Saturday draw featured two familiar opponents for St. Francis, which swept past Pleasant Grove by scores of 25-22, 25-11; then posted strong finishes in each set of a 25-17, 25-12 win over Granite Bay. The Troubies then came back from a first-set loss to take down Ponderosa in the tourney's "crossover" match between the top performers in the two three-team pools. SF won, 24-26, 25-17, 15-11.
This granted the Troubies one of the two byes in the Gold bracket, which led to a 25-23, 25-19 sweep of host Oak Ridge in the semifinal. SF worked its way out of a 14-11 deficit in the opener with the Trojans, while the second set saw a 9-4 Troubie start wither to a brief 10-9 deficit. SF rebuilt its lead to 15-11, then gave up three straight points to allow OR to pull within a single point. However, Liliana Negrete and Addie Green each scored kills and Kyaw served up an ace as part of a 5-0 run from there, catapulting the Troubies into the Gold final.
St. Francis enjoyed the good fortune of having St. Mary's and Vacaville go the distance in the opposite semifinal, although the Rams hung tough in the first set, trailing just 13-12. Lyla Faruzzi landed kills from either side of the net while Sophie Yiakis put one down from the middle to launch a 12-1 overall finish to the frame. Faruzzi commanded the service line for the majority of that stretch, and was responsible for one of the more Ram-deflating moments: one of her serves caught the tape, rolled across the top, then tipped over into SM territory for an ace and the set's 22nd point.
Credit the Rams for a comeback in the second set, with St. Francis going from a 13-7 edge to ties at 17-17, 18-18 and even 21-21, with the threat of a rubber set. A St. Mary's serve went just wide, then Williams' offspeed shot made it 23-21. Negrete sent a ball toward the deep end of the court but the ball landed inches long. Nonetheless, Kyaw's underhanded set found Williams near the left pin for the 24th point before Kyaw's serve went untouched for the clincher.
SF frosh was one of three Troubie volleyball teams in tourney action on Saturday, with JV finishing third in a tough Stockton Classic field and varsity going 3-1 at Bishop O'Dowd's Dragon Girls' tournament.
All three Troubie teams return to action on Monday with a Sierra Foothill League tripleheader at Del Oro. The froshies begin the night with a 4:30 p.m. match.
