After forcing a fifth and deciding game, the San Perlita Lady Trojans saw an 8-3 lead disappear as the Runge Lady Jackets stormed back to win their Class 2A area-round match in five games, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 16-25, 15-14, Saturday night at Bishop High School.
The late collapse cost the Lady Trojans what would have been their first trip to the regional quarterfinals since 2012.
San Perlita won the opening game and appeared to be on its way to an early 2-0 lead in the match, only to squander away two seven-point leads in the third and fourth games.
Complacency and a quick Runge team that forced long rallies was the difference.
“The girls had their ups and downs. My big thing to them tonight was to not give up; they didn’t come in and give up without a fight. I’m so proud of the girls,” Lady Trojan head coach Mari Suarez said.
“I feel we were the better team, but our serving got the best of us also; we got a little messy. Our girls had trouble getting into their game. We’re a hitting team and we got into (Runge’s) game of tipping the ball back and fourth.”
The win sends the Trojans home and sends Runge into the regional quarterfinals where Riviera-Kaufer awaits.
Runge had its struggles all night as it saw a quick 4-0 lead of its own evaporate to start the opening game it eventually lost 22-25.
The Lady Jackets trailed by at least five points in every game, but were able to rally back in three of them.
In game two, San Perlita jumped out to a 10-3 lead, but the Lady Jackets closed on a 22-13 run. In the third, it was a 13-6 deficit the Jackets battled back from.
Runge head coach Claire Cozart was the first to admit her team benefited from some sloppy play by the Lady Trojans and their persistent play.
“Our game plan going in was not to get caught playing (San Perlita’s) game because they’re better defensive team than we are,” Cozart said.
“We knew that they don’t have the hands to put up in the net like we do, so we had to come up and hit the ball. We went away from it and we played scared. San Perlita’s game plan worked better than ours did and that game could’ve gone either way. I told our girls (during the timeout) that this is what you play for all season.”
San Perlita did, however, make things interesting by making quick work of the Lady Jackets in the fourth game, winning 25-16, but it would be for naught.
Leading the Lady Jackets Saturday was Emily Molina with 11 kills and Valeria Mejia with 34 assists.
San Perlita was led by setter Cecilia Ortiz, who set a team record with 130 assists, while Maria Hernandez and Mia Maurer combined for 11 kills on 39 hits.