Rocklin handles Trojans in three sets

As the end of the season draws nearer, Rocklin took a step closer Monday night to claiming the Sierra Foothill League volleyball title by sweeping Oak Ridge in three sets, 25-22, 25-10, 25-21. Rocklin is the best team in the Sierra Foothill League, as their 11-0 league record shows and they're one of the best teams in the Sacramento area as their overall record of 31-4 shows. Having already beaten Oak Ridge once in an early-season tournament and again in the regular season, they were just going for the sweep, while the Trojans were trying to show they can be competitive with the Thunder. Did they actually prove that? It depends. Oak Ridge didn't win a set, but the team did score at least 21 points in two of the three sets. Prior to the match, Oak Ridge coach Trevin Morgan wanted to see his team compete, because he knows they can. He wanted to see whether his team would fight or flight, would they stick their collective tails between their legs and flee. "The first set, we actually came to fight," Morgan said. "I'm not exactly sure what happened in set two. In set three, we started to fight in spurts. It would be close, then we'd fall behind, then we'd fight back. Then we came back at the end, but we just couldn't pull it out." Oak Ridge held a 12-9 lead in the first set; trailed 20-16 and was tied as late as 21-21 before the Thunder scored four of the last five points to win the set. In set two, the Trojans trailed 4-3, but then totally fell apart, as they were outscored 21-7 the rest of the set. In the third set, Oak Ridge trailed 18-12, but made a nice comeback late to get as close as 19-18 and 23-21 before succumbing, 25-21. "We served the ball well tonight and have been serving well for the last month," Rocklin coach Bret Almazan-Cezar said. "We do a great job of hitting our zone with good pace. "We're just trying to get better every day, because we know beyond the next level is more than we've been able to produce." Rocklin clearly knows they need to up their game with the playoffs nearby. Oak Ridge wants to do the same. "Rocklin is crazy good," Morgan said. "In the first set, we passed it really well. I don't know what happened in the second set, but in the third set we started to pass it better, but not as good as we did in the first set. "We've got three matches remaining against Davis, St. Francis and Folsom. We hope to win all three matches. We have to realize that the league got tougher this season. We can't just fight in spurts, but we have to fight from the beginning of the match all the way to the end. We've got to play well against Davis, St. Francis and Folsom so we secure our standing and get into the playoffs"