Girls volleyball: Redwood tops Tam in early-season showdown

The second heavyweight clash of the MCAL girls volleyball season took place on Wednesday night when Tam traveled to Larkspur to face Redwood.

Both teams entered the week inside the top 10 in the North Coast Section in the MaxPreps.com rankings with Redwood third and Tam in eighth. (Branson is ranked first and Marin Catholic is ranked fifth).

The Giants regained control of the match in the fourth set after the teams split the middle two sets to remain unbeaten in league play following a 25-15, 25-23, 21-25, 25-15 victory.

“(Tam’s) block was really good and I think they also upped their service pressure,” Redwood coach Jane Seslar said. “We weren’t really able to find our middles in the second and third set as much. So definitely service pressure put a lot of pressure on us and blocking. It really made us have to work to earn points so credit to them. I thought their offense looked really good, too.”

Redwood (14-1, 3-0 MCAL) pulled away midway through the first set, getting a flurry of kills and an ace from freshman Milan Hendrickson. Tam responded with a good stretch of play to open the second set, eventually inching out to a 17-14 lead on a kill by Natalie Stanford.

Redwood’s Madeleine Wagner had three consecutive kills to tie the set at 17-17 then added another kill to put Redwood in front 19-18. Tam went back in front 23-22 on another kill by Stanford but Redwood reeled off the next three points – including a clutch kill by middle blocker Hanna Smith – to claim a 2-0 advantage.

“You’re going to win a match if you’re able to get your middles running and involved because there’s so many plays you can run with a middle,” Smith said. “Our back row does a really great job of serve receive and passing and defense and that lets us run our middles a lot.”

Redwood has not been tested too often so far this season, losing a five-setter to Saint Francis but otherwise not dropping a single set in any of their previous 13 victories. Seslar said she was encouraged to see her team pull out a close second set, especially with games against Marin Catholic and Branson coming up on the schedule.

“In that chaotic moment I was like I’m glad this is happening now so we get a little taste for it and we can trust ourselves in the big moments,” Seslar said. “It was great for us to play this match.”

Despite trailing 2-0, Tam came out strong in the third and this time was able to gain some separation midway through the set. The Red-tailed Hawks (17-4, 3-1) went on an 8-2 run to take a 22-15 lead. Tam got kills by Natalia Clifford and Eva Hart during the run, plus a setter dump from Emmeline Sandgren and an ace from Jade Curtin-Savala. Clifford and Hart added kills late in the set to keep Tam in the match.

Redwood retook control of the match quickly in the fourth, getting a trio of aces from Wagner while grabbing a 6-2 lead.

“Our energy on the court and our camaraderie got so much better throughout the game,” Redwood setter Katie Lazzareschi said. “I think just the hitters being smart and changing up shots really contributed to us winning.”

Tam pulled within 13-10 on a kill by Sandgren but Redwood pulled away from there with Smith getting three kills down the stretch, including the match winner.

“Our middles work really hard – Hanna and (Amelia Matthews),” Seslar said. “They’re getting a lot of touches, asking questions about the hitter’s tendencies so you can really see them being curious and wanting to learn and get better during the match which I love. (Setter Katie Lazzareschi) did a really good job with our offense. Her setting has improved a lot just in this season.”

Tam was led by Clifford (18 kills, 14 digs, four blocks) and Stanford (10 kills, 10 digs, three blocks, two aces). Sandgren had 31 assists, six blocks, and five kills. Curtin-Savala had 18 digs and Reese Murphy had six blocks and five kills.

The top four teams in the MCAL will all face each other on Friday night when Tam goes to Branson and Redwood travels to battle Marin Catholic.

Around the county

• Josie Campo had 18 kills, nine digs, three aces, and two blocks as Terra Linda (15-6, 1-2) picked up a crucial four-set win against San Marin (17-5, 1-3) on Wednesday. The MCAL playoffs expanded from four teams to six this season. San Marin finished in sixth last season and TL finished in seventh. Kaylie Chen had eight kills and two blocks for TL and Leah Mathewson had 23 assists.
• Archie Williams, also jockeying for a playoff spot, secured an important 27-25, 27-25, 24-26, 25-23 victory against San Rafael (15-11, 0-3) on Wednesday. The Peregrine Falcons (2-13, 2-1) got 13 kills and three blocks apiece from Felicity Brown and Rainey Preston. Setter Alyse Rosen had 35 assists, three digs, and two aces.