There’s typically an air of mystique during the first MCAL girls volleyball battle of the season between any of the three perennial juggernauts that call the league home.
Marin Catholic and The Branson School were in that spot at College of Marin on Tuesday night but the roles have been reversed from a year ago.
Last season, the Wildcats were defending champions and held off Branson in a five-set thriller. The Bulls entered as defending champions this time around and imposed their will for a business-like 25-13, 25-16, 25-15 victory.
“The feeling of going into the first MC game last year, I remember us all really wanting to win but also us having some doubts,” Branson libero Lauren Dignan said. “MC wasn’t considered as strong of a team as the team they had before my freshman year but they were still really good.
“We were all really nervous and I think that’s why we ended up losing to MC the first time – because we were kind of the new team and we were trying to put pieces together and once we did it was amazing. Last year there was definitely uncertainty of who was better. Even this year, that’s why we want to stay consistent and show people how good a team we could be.”
Branson (9-4, 2-0 MCAL) jumped out in front early in the first and second sets and never let the Wildcats (13-4, 1-1) lead by more than two at any point in the match.
“We’ve been working really hard on following a game plan and I was incredibly impressed with our ability to do so in this match,” Branson coach Michelle Brazil said. “More importantly, when (MC) changed something I thought we did a great job of also countering in a chess-like manner. I was really happy with their response when things did not go well. And I thought we served really well.”
Although the Bulls didn’t pile up a ton of aces, they went for placement over power to try keep MC off balance.
“A lot of that came down to our serving,” Branson outside hitter Elena Fisher said. “What we’ve been practicing is a lot more location versus power and getting consistent location because if we’re hitting the right person then we have better odds that they are out of system. It’s easier for us on defense then we can be in system and run our fast offense to counter that.”
The Bulls’ ability to stay in system, despite MC’s best efforts to take them out of it, allowed them to run their offense through Logan Tusher (21 assists) and Celia Tolmie (18 assists) and set up outside hitters Fisher (13 kills) and Sadie Snipes (11 kills).
Even when it appeared MC was in control of a point, Branson was often able to turn it around in an instant.
An impressive swing by MC’s Krystal Rose Huff was dug out on a pancake dive by Branson and moments later the Bulls won the point on an MC hitting error. Later in the match, another strong swing by MC was thwarted by Fisher in the back row. Fisher casually stuck out her right arm and cushioned the ball, directing it right to Tusher, and the Bulls were immediately back in system.
MC’s best run of play came in the second set, which was tied as late as 10-10 and was still up for grabs with the Bulls ahead 14-12. Branson closed the set on an 11-4 run, capped by a tip kill from Fisher.
MC was within 12-8 in the third before the Bulls used an 11-3 run to all but seal the deal. Branson won the match on a kill by Snipes and avenged its regular-season loss from a year ago.
Last season’s intrigue extended all the way to the MCAL finals after a regular season that saw MC beat Branson, Redwood beat MC, then Redwood beat Branson before the Bulls stormed back and beat both the Wildcats and Giants in the MCAL playoffs.
This year’s Branson squad is positioned to be even stronger than the one that won every postseason game it played in last year, returning all but one starter and adding a talented freshman class. Tusher and Snipes are both seniors this season and Fisher is a junior.
Redwood hosts MC on Oct. 5 then closes out the season with an away game at Branson on Oct. 13. The MCAL playoffs will be played the following week.
