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LODI — For the third straight season, Kris Brereton's Lodi Flames finished the season with a share of the San Joaquin Athletic Association championship, which earned the ball club a No. 6 seeding and a first-round home game in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.
But the Flames (19-9) were a bit surprised to find that their first-round foe, the 11th-seeded team in the tournament, was going to be the seven-time defending Division I champion Nevada Union Miners.
“Well, you know, you look at the MaxPreps.com rankings versus the CIF and you can see there's quite a bit of a difference,” Brereton said. “Even though there's power ratings, somehow they don't seem to necessarily factor in who
you play.”
The Miners (32-9) might have entered the match with the lower seed, but they were the underdog only on paper Tuesday night, as Nevada Union opened the D-I playoffs on the road with a 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18 win over the host Flames.
Though NU co-head coaches Larry Peterson and Bob Rogers were pleased to be moving into second-round action on Thursday, they didn't consider Tuesday's win an upset nor a thing of beauty.
“That's what you call winning ugly,” said Rogers, who was without his No. 2 hitter Ellie Selleck, due to injury.
The Miners made things look easy in the early going of both games one and two, but allowed Lodi to creep back into contention with numerous errors. In the opener, NU owned a 20-14 lead, but committed five straight errors to cut the margin to 20-19 before eventually pulling out the win.
Game two was a similar story, as the Miners managed a 17-8 lead before Lodi battled back to knot the game at 22-22. Nine of the Flames' 14 points in that span came by way of Nevada Union errors. NU was able to pull away for the victory, thanks to three kills off the right arm of senior Abbie Miraldi.
But after seeing the same story play out in game three, as Lodi forced a 22-22 tie, the Miners again turned to Miraldi for a kill at 24-23. But two more Miner miscues, sandwiched around a kill by Lodi's Jenae Reich, gave game three to the Flames.
“For some reason, I don't think we were really focused in that game,” said Miraldi.
“It's not really about the other team anyway. It's about us getting better. This is the playoffs and if we let other teams back in, they're going to take it.”
Game four again saw the Miners take the early edge, leading 11-6 after Alison Dowd dropped in a serve for an ace that capped four straight service points. Four straight NU errors followed, however, to keep the game tight. Lodi twice led in game four — at 15-14 and 16-15 — before NU began to pull away down the stretch.
Tessa Butterfield earned a sideout with a kill and then stepped to the service line with a 20-18 lead. The junior then served up the final five points, which included an ace and three Miraldi kills, as the Miners moved on to the second round of the section playoffs with the 25-18 final margin.
“It's not fair to us (to be the 11th seed),” Peterson said after the match. “But it's really not fair to Lodi, because there are probably five to six teams (seeded) ahead of us that they'd have a good chance to beat.”
Despite the fact that the 11th seeded team turned out to be the same Nevada Union team that MaxPreps.com has ranked second in the entire section, Lodi's coach was pleased with her team's performance nonetheless.
“My girls are fighters and I think they proved it tonight,” Brereton said. “It was a good overall match, an exciting game. They played hard and they played well.”
Nevada Union will play the winner of Tuesday's match between No. 3 Modesto and No. 14 Vintage. Results were not available at press time.
But the Flames (19-9) were a bit surprised to find that their first-round foe, the 11th-seeded team in the tournament, was going to be the seven-time defending Division I champion Nevada Union Miners.
“Well, you know, you look at the MaxPreps.com rankings versus the CIF and you can see there's quite a bit of a difference,” Brereton said. “Even though there's power ratings, somehow they don't seem to necessarily factor in who
you play.”
The Miners (32-9) might have entered the match with the lower seed, but they were the underdog only on paper Tuesday night, as Nevada Union opened the D-I playoffs on the road with a 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18 win over the host Flames.
Though NU co-head coaches Larry Peterson and Bob Rogers were pleased to be moving into second-round action on Thursday, they didn't consider Tuesday's win an upset nor a thing of beauty.
“That's what you call winning ugly,” said Rogers, who was without his No. 2 hitter Ellie Selleck, due to injury.
The Miners made things look easy in the early going of both games one and two, but allowed Lodi to creep back into contention with numerous errors. In the opener, NU owned a 20-14 lead, but committed five straight errors to cut the margin to 20-19 before eventually pulling out the win.
Game two was a similar story, as the Miners managed a 17-8 lead before Lodi battled back to knot the game at 22-22. Nine of the Flames' 14 points in that span came by way of Nevada Union errors. NU was able to pull away for the victory, thanks to three kills off the right arm of senior Abbie Miraldi.
But after seeing the same story play out in game three, as Lodi forced a 22-22 tie, the Miners again turned to Miraldi for a kill at 24-23. But two more Miner miscues, sandwiched around a kill by Lodi's Jenae Reich, gave game three to the Flames.
“For some reason, I don't think we were really focused in that game,” said Miraldi.
“It's not really about the other team anyway. It's about us getting better. This is the playoffs and if we let other teams back in, they're going to take it.”
Game four again saw the Miners take the early edge, leading 11-6 after Alison Dowd dropped in a serve for an ace that capped four straight service points. Four straight NU errors followed, however, to keep the game tight. Lodi twice led in game four — at 15-14 and 16-15 — before NU began to pull away down the stretch.
Tessa Butterfield earned a sideout with a kill and then stepped to the service line with a 20-18 lead. The junior then served up the final five points, which included an ace and three Miraldi kills, as the Miners moved on to the second round of the section playoffs with the 25-18 final margin.
“It's not fair to us (to be the 11th seed),” Peterson said after the match. “But it's really not fair to Lodi, because there are probably five to six teams (seeded) ahead of us that they'd have a good chance to beat.”
Despite the fact that the 11th seeded team turned out to be the same Nevada Union team that MaxPreps.com has ranked second in the entire section, Lodi's coach was pleased with her team's performance nonetheless.
“My girls are fighters and I think they proved it tonight,” Brereton said. “It was a good overall match, an exciting game. They played hard and they played well.”
Nevada Union will play the winner of Tuesday's match between No. 3 Modesto and No. 14 Vintage. Results were not available at press time.
