Scorpions make a dramatic comeback
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

BIG WIN-Camarillo's Tara Schnell, left, goes high to hit the ball.

With Camarillo High girls' volleyball team trailing 21-20 in the third game against Bishop Amat in the first round of the Division IIAA CIF-Southern Section playoffs Tuesday night, Scorpion head coach Rob Vandermay called a timeout.

ACHS had already lost the first two games of the night, and Camarillo's season was on the brink. Unfortunately for Bishop Amat, Camarillo didn't want to finish playing.

Following the timeout, the Scorpions regrouped, made the necessary adjustments and went on a 5-2 run to take the third game 25-23. ACHS then won a tight battle in the fourth game, 2826, before eventually advancing to the second round of the playoffs by winning the deciding fifth game 15-8.

"After the first two games, we just had to shake it off," senior Heidi Pettit said. "I think when we started to get points we then realized that we could do it. I was so excited after we won, I didn't want my senior year to end tonight."

After the Scorpions won the third game, they found themselves in another hole in Game 4. Trailing 16-9, sophomore Sydney Billings decided to take over. Billings served three aces in a row cutting the Lancer lead to 16-14.

Camarillo ended up tying the score at 19 before the teams decided to go back and forth like a seesaw. Still tied up at 26, Meghan Fruth had a kill for Camarillo to put the team up by one. When Pettit followed that point with an ace, the Scorpions won the fourth game.

The deciding fifth game was all Camarillo.

With ACHS up 97, the Scorpions went on a 6-1 run, sparked by a block by Fruth to make the score 10-7, a kill by Alyssa Melford to make the score 11-7, and an ace by Carlye Taggesell to make the score 14-8.

Camarillo won the game when Bishop Amat junior Monique Sena couldn't quite get a shot to fall for the Lancers.

"I think we started out shabby tonight," Vandermay said. "We made some adjustments in the third game. I had two of our wing players in the back row move up to the middle, leaving one player to cover the entire back row so there would be no miscommunication. And it worked, as Sammie Helland did a great job covering the back row."

Helland said she wasn't nervous about covering a lot of space on the floor or possibly playing in her last game at Camarillo.

"I've done it (playing the entire back row) before, so it was something I knew I could do," Helland said. "I knew I had to get to every ball, knowing that it was mine. I didn't think too much about how I was possibly playing in my last game as a senior. The team did a wonderful job."

Vandermay said the adjustments were made because Bishop Amat was most likely the best team the Scorpions had seen all year at tipping the ball.

Camarillo played South Hills in the second round last night. The score was unavailable prior to press time.