SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The senior trio of outside hitter Layla Alexander, middle blocker Isabella Ramos and opposite Gabrielle Rowe combined for 31 kills and just seven errors for a combined .414 average as St. Francis swept Davis, 25-15, 25-10, 25-14, in the varsity finale of a Sierra Foothill League girls' volleyball tripleheader Wednesday night.
The Troubadours close the regular season at 22-12 overall and 7-7 in league play. They finish in fifth place in the SFL race, behind Rocklin (14-0), Folsom (11-3), Oak Ridge (10-4) and Del Oro (8-6); and ahead of Granite Bay (4-10), Davis (1-13) and Whitney (1-13).
Alexander led the offense with 13 kills, Rowe added 10 and Ramos hit an errorless 8-for-11. Apropos of that trio's contribution, Wednesday's match also served as Senior Night for St. Francis volleyball, with 11 grads-to-be honored prior the match: Alexander, Ramos, Rowe, Ellie Carpenter, Sydney Chow, Jessica Dillie, Mana Jafari, Nika Jafari, Audra Lucas, Natalie Sandoval and manager Copeland Williams.
Dillie platooned with Rowe by the right pin and added 4-1-9 offense. Nika Jafari and Sydney Chow split setting chores with 16 assists each. Rowe also blocked five shots for the match, while sophomore Hailey Sutton tied Nika Jafari with nine digs on floor defense. Even Sandoval, injured for almost the entire season, got to contribute in the match as a serving specialist and a member of the serve-receive line in the second and third sets.
Despite the lop-sided set scores, St. Francis had to pull itself out of early deficits in the first and third frames. Rowe and Sutton scored kills and Chow served up an ace in a 5-0 run that flipped a 6-3 hole to an 8-6 lead in the opener. Davis managed to stay within striking range of its host, with junior Heidi Sindel knocking down a five ball to pull the Blue Devils to within a 15-13 margin. Then the Troubies finished on a 10-2 heater, with Mercy Collier scoring two kills (one on a Davis net violation) with two block assists during that stretch.
The third set saw Davis open on a 4-0 run before two Carpenter aces sparked a run of 10 straight points, turning a 5-3 Blue Devil lead into a 13-5 commanding edge for the Troubies. Rowe scored five kills and teamed with Ramos for a block as part of SF's outburst in the finale.
St. Francis led wire-to-wire in the second, with Rowe posting two kills and a block in a 6-0 start, then Marissa Jensen later providing two kills and blocks alongside Rowe and Alexander – the latter of which capped a run of eight unanswered to a 19-9 lead. Alexander closed out the second stanza with four kills.
The varsity sweep followed straight-set victories for each of the St. Francis junior varsity and frosh squads. The JV Troubies won 18 and 18 to finish their season with a 30-2 record and a perfect 14-0 mark in league play. The frosh opened with a tight 26-24 win in the first set then pulled away to a 25-16 victory in the second. The youngest Troubies end up at 26-7 for the season, with an 8-6 record.
All three SF volleyball teams operate under first-year head coaches: Taryn Campbell at varsity, Todd Rhoads at JV and Joey Uliana with the froshies.
Only the top three teams in the SFL earn automatic berths to the Sac-Joaquin Section postseason, but the Troubies entered Wednesday's match ranked fifth in the SJS Division I by MaxPreps. Brackets will be announced on Friday afternoon. The D-I tourney's first round takes place at home sites on Tuesday.
