ORANGE — Archie Williams (San Anselmo) battled back after dropping the first set in Saturday's CIF Division III finals to
Buckley (Sherman Oaks) to win the school's first title with a 16-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23 victory at Santiago Canyon College.
After Buckley, also in its first state title match, got off to the 1-0 lead the Falcons were able to right the ship and get hitters
Lindsey Jones,
Lauren Barnwell and Arizona State-bound
Elsa Snipes going in a match where every point seemed to be at a premium.
"This was a battle of two great teams," first-year Buckley coach Otis Glasgow said. "We fought and came up short, but the differences in the match weren't large."
Each team had a trio of hitters with double-digit kills as Snipe had a match-high 25, Jones added 15 and Barnwell chipped in 12. For Buckley,
Tate Drageset led the way with 23 while
Sophia Wolfson and
Adonia Anene each had 11.
"Throughout the playoffs we've been able to come back," Archie Williams coach Lisa Hudson said. "This season has been magical. We've been underdogs. We're not tall, we finished fifth in league and for us to come out and not drop a set in the postseason until today is amazing."
In the first set, the Falcons were out of system frequently, but that changed in the second as passes began finding hitters. Snipes had nine kills in the second set, including the set winner in the second and third sets.
"It was a team effort," Hudson said.
For Snipes, it was also personal as her younger sister Sadie won a Division I title with Branson on Friday night.
"She knows I'm in my zone on the night before a match but she just said ‘Good luck' and ‘I love you,' " Elsa Snipes said.
In the fourth set, neither team was able to build a lead of more than three points — Archie Williams at 7-4 — so the set came to the end with the Falcons leading 23-21 before Buckley pulled even with a Archie Williams service error and block on the ensuing point.
But
Reese Fraser, who had 48 assists, got a kill on a tip to move it to 24-23 and Snipes hammered a back-row kill for the title.
