Rocklin tops PG, sets up title rematch with St. Mary's

For the second consecutive season, Rocklin and Pleasant Grove met Tuesday night in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I volleyball semifinals. The top-seeded Thunder defended their home court and fended off a hungry and gritty flock of Eagles, securing a 3-1 victory (25-23, 26-28, 25-11, 25-16) to advance to the championship match again. Fourth-seeded Pleasant Grove began the match aggressively, hanging with the Thunder for the first two sets. The Eagles took a 23-22 lead in set one, but Rocklin scored three unanswered points to steal the set. Pleasant Grove punched back however, completing an impressive comeback in set two to tie the match 1-1. It was the first time Rocklin had dropped a set since Oct. 5, prompting the Thunder to leave the court to regroup in between sets. Rocklin's response proved why it is the top seed and ranked as one of the top three teams in the state, as it outscored Pleasant Grove 50-27 over the final two sets to win the match. "We just had to monitor what we were thinking for ourselves and go back to our identity," Rocklin coach Bret Almazan-Cezar said. "We were getting a little overwhelmed, maybe a little too fired up, and they got back to their identity and became that machine that they are." Almazan-Cezar added that he challenged the team to lift each other up and play to their potential, noting that it becomes contagious when players start to make plays. "The conversation between sets two and three was to make someone around you better. Someone makes that little dig, or somebody gets that little block, or we scramble for balls," Almazan-Cezar said. "Everybody made each other better so that everybody can do their job." Rocklin used its four-headed monster of attackers– Addy Scheitlin, Gianna Bogan, Rylee Heinz, and Kaleigh Morasci–to take control of the match. Almazan-Cezar said that the offense running through those four gives the Thunder options and noted that they were able to keep the Eagles on their toes and attack in different ways. Rocklin (37-4) advances to the D-I championship match Saturday night at Cosumnes River College where it will face No. 3 St. Mary's (26-6) for the second consecutive season. The Thunder fell to the Rams 3-0 in last year's section final and while they will be eager to avenge that loss and secure their first section title since 2014, Almazan-Cezar said that they need to approach it the same way they would approach any other match. Said Almazan-Cezar, "It's just another match. Let's go do our thing."