A Honker heartbreaker

Tuesday night's volleyball match between Bella Vista and Yuba City High was one of those games where momentum was the deciding factor.

The Broncos had it on their side early when they rallied back to take a tight opening game. Then the Honkers seized it and won the following two games. Bella Vista then answered to force a pressure-packed final fifth set.

But after four-plus games filled with too many spectacular plays to count, no one could have guessed that it would be a play made with the feet, not the hands, that would be the difference.

Trailing by two points late, Yuba City fought all the way back from a 5-0 deficit and looked to have finally closed the gap down to one. But when Bella Vista's Michelle Hernandez covered the length of the floor and made a miraculous, point-saving bicycle kick to get the ball over the net, it was the final straw that broke the Honkers' back.

The soccer-style kick, which was illegal until just this year, stretched the Broncos' lead to three and was the biggest play in Bella Vista's 26-24, 17-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11 victory in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs.

The season-ending loss was a difficult one for the Honkers, who picked the worst time of the year to not be at their best.

"We just made too many errors and they capitalized every time," Yuba City coach Amy Lopez said. "But like I just told them, these girls are the funnest group I've been around. It's been a great season and I had a great time coaching them."

The Honkers (21-11) jumped out to a 20-14 lead in the first game before a timeout by Bella Vista cooled the hosts and swung the tide in the Broncos' favor.

Bella Vista went on an 8-0 run that featured four unforced errors by the Honkers after the time out and held on to take a very close opener.

Dropping the first game only seemed to wake up the Honkers, however, as they cruised to an easy victory in game two and jumped out to a 9-5 lead in game three. Yuba City eventually fell behind 12-11, but Tori Thomas delivered six straight service points — including three aces — and Katie Reiland smashed a pair of kills and a block to give the Honkers the third game.

The back-and-forth affair then went the Broncos' way when they battled back yet again to take the fourth.

The visitors carried the momentum into the final game by jumping out to a quick 5-0 lead, but just when it looked like the Honkers had finally run out of steam, they too answered the bell.

Taylor Thompson and Reiland each had two kills during a run that saw the Honkers trim the lead to 11-9, but right when Yuba City was about to take the momentum and run away with it, Hernandez came up with the biggest play.

Thompson finished with 11 kills, six blocks and 10 digs and Reiland had seven kills and five blocks to lead Yuba City, which was forced play two sophomores after middle hitter Brittany Bryant moved to Texas during the week.

Annabel Mendoza had five kills and seven digs, Thomas had 31 assists and Krizzia Hernandez notched 20 digs for the Honkers.

Yuba City also received a strong performance from libero Jacqueline Van Ruiten, who had 20 digs during the match, most of them sensational. The senior also hit the deck hard going for every ball in a gutsy performance playing through the flu.