49ers lose to valley neighbor Sierra

Yuba College's volleyball team's stirring rally came up short Wednesday, and the 49ers lost to visiting Sierra College, 30-24, 27-30, 30-15, 30-28.

With the setback, Yuba's record levels at 3-3.

“The girls have so much heart,” Yuba coach Greg Chapman said. “No matter how tall the other team is, they just fight, fight, fight. Once you get to that fifth game, you never know what will happen.”

Yuba nearly got to the fifth set.

The 49ers trailed by as many as four points early in the fourth game before rallying for a 12-11 lead. In that surge, Mariza Quihuis came up with five big plays. First she slammed a pair of kills. After Krystle Wolcott blocked a Sierra spike for a point, Quihuis slammed another kill. Then, Quihuis teamed with Wolcott for a block for another point, she capped the comeback with another kill.

All told, Quihuis had five kills in the fourth game.

“When she connects, she's hard to stop,” Chapman said of the 5-7 Quihuis.

“I didn't want to lose,” Quihuis said of her inspired play in the fourth game. “I was upset because I didn't play that well earlier.”

After the 49ers had taken the 12-11 lead, Sierra rallied for a 15-13 edge. Three unforced Sierra errors allowed Yuba to stay close.

Sarah Kratz provided a spark for Sierra with a quick tip and quick kill that lifted the Wolverines into a 23-19 lead. Quihuis stopped Sierra's surge with another kill, but Kratz came up with a tip and a kill that pushed Sierra back on top by four, 26-22.

Wolcott followed with a kill for Yuba, but then two 49er errors allowed Sierra to open a 28-25 lead. The Wolverines came within one of match point off a Yuba serve that was swallowed up by the net.

Two Sierra hits that sailed long and an ace serve from Yuba's Lindsey Straolzini inched the 49ers to within one point, 29-28, but a kill by Sierra's Khayla Jones into two 49er blockers sealed the win for the Wolverines.

“I'm proud of my teammates,” Quihuis said, as she rested after the game with an ice pack on her left shoulder.

Quihuis injured herself in practice the day before, but she said it didn't bother her that much because she is right-handed. She finished the game with six kills, six digs and three blocks.

Yuba's Danielle Coppin had four downed spikes on the floor along with two other kills, and an ace serve. Wolcott had two downed spikes, four other kills, four blocks and a tip. Melissa Chapman had one kill, four blocks, an ace and four tips. Liz Ledford had three blocks, two downed spikes and a tip. Straolzini had 11 digs and two aces.

What hurt the 49ers most were the 10 service errors and 14 hitting errors.

“Those unforced errors seemed to come at the wrong time,” Chapman said.

While they had 24 errors, Chapman said the team worked on cutting down on mistakes in practice and in fact the 49ers did make fewer errors against Sierra than in previous matches.