Girls volleyball: Branson opens MCAL by avenging loss to Marin Catholic

The MCAL girls volleyball season kicked off on a high note Friday night as defending champion Branson traveled to Marin Catholic looking to avenge a recent tournament loss.

The Bulls pulled out a hard-fought first set en route to a 27-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-12 victory.

“When we played them this (past) weekend, they just flat out outworked us in such a big way,” Branson coach Michelle Brazil said of the Wildcats. “My whole thing was if they’re going to beat us that’s OK but I don’t want to get outworked. So we were really focused in practice on having full-out, tenacious defense and it definitely paid off.”

The Bulls (4-2, 1-0 MCAL) jumped out to an early lead in the first set but MC (8-3, 0-1) kept things close and eventually pulled ahead 19-18 on a kill by Carolina Delaney.

MC pushed the lead to 22-19 on a kill by middle blocker Chloe Allcroft but Branson turned up the defense to another level as the points became more crucial. The Bulls capped a 4-0 run after turning around a point that MC appeared to have all but won on two occasions to move back in front 23-22. Blake Cussen had three of her team-high 18 kills during that stretch and added another one to save a set point at 24-24.

“We really focused on ourselves and being a team,” Cussen said. “After the (tournament loss to MC), we came back and worked hard and found who we wanted to be as a team.”

The Bulls’ defense stayed relentless, keeping the ball off the court a couple more times on the decisive point, which ended on a kill by Elena Fisher, who also had 18 kills.

“In a rally, you don’t know if it will work out but one more touch can really make such a difference, especially when it’s so close,” Fisher said. “Everyone stepped up in that moment and it was such a team moment.”

Branson took the momentum earned from winning the first set and jumped ahead quickly in the second set. The Bulls never trailed in taking a 2-0 lead, getting a pair of kills late in the set from Abby King (12 kills, four blocks), plus another set-clinching swing from Fisher.

MC proved to be resilient in the third, getting a number of kills from Allcroft, plus freshman outside hitters Delaney and Eden Cisneros.

“They’re both young and both freshmen and we ask them to do a lot but the way they can compose themselves sometimes and the way they present themselves on the court, it’s very special,” MC coach Nick Honrada said of Delaney and Cisneros. “For them to do what they’re doing right now is something you wouldn’t expect incoming freshmen to come and do, but they’re doing it.”

MC appeared to be coasting toward a relatively comfortable third set victory, leading 23-15, but Branson came roaring back behind a six-point service run by Lucy Tusher (10 digs), which featured a trio of kills from Cussen.

Branson pulled within 24-23 but MC held on following a kill by Krystal Rose Huff. The Wildcats held on to take the set 25-23, but the momentum had shifted back to the Bulls.

“It’s really important, especially against good teams like MC, we can never let the pressure off because then things like Set 3 happen and they can take a set off us,” Fisher said. “So I think Set 3 was kind of the mark that we needed to go all gas and sprint to the finish line because we know they’re not just going to give it to us.”

Branson found another gear in the fourth set, closing the match on a 16-4 run. Fisher served out the final seven points in the match, continuing a trend that had previously seen both Tusher and Lauren Dignan reel off crucial runs of serve.

“It was a part of our scouting report,” said setter Celia Tolmie. “We wanted to target certain people in certain areas and I think we did a really good job of doing that because it just got them out of system and then we were able to get the point eventually.”

Fisher had 14 digs and four aces in addition to her 18 kills. Dignan also had four aces, plus a team-high 20 digs. Ella Tsai gave the Bulls four players with double-digit kills with 10.

“For us I think we kind of found ourselves a little bit,” Brazil said of her team, which remains loaded despite the graduation of MCAL player of the year Logan Tusher and all-league outside hitter Sadie Snipes. “Although we do have a lot of the same people on the team this year, in terms of personnel there’s a lot of people who haven’t played together on the court. It’s taken us a little minute or so to gel and find our comfort within each other. It’s slowly been getting better throughout the weeks. We needed a breakthrough moment and, lucky for us, that was today.”

Around the county

• Natalia Clifford had 11 kills and Natalie Stanford added 10 kills as Tam opened league with a 25-16, 25-13, 25-10 win against San Rafael (13-6, 0-1) on Friday. Setter Emmeline Sandgren piled up 25 assists for the Red-tailed Hawks (10-3, 1-0). The Bulldogs were led by Elsa Kehoe (nine kills, 13 digs), Abby Sims (16 assists), and Olivia Dugan (seven digs).
• Archie Williams (1-8, 1-0) netted its first victory of the season, winning in four sets against Novato (4-8, 0-1) on Friday night. Lydia Battaglia led the way with 13 kills while setter Alyse Rosen had 45 assists and six digs. Danielle Christian added 16 digs, six aces, and five assists.
• Redwood (6-1, 1-0) powered its way to a 25-6, 25-9, 25-8 win against San Marin (12-2, 0-1) on Friday night.