ARBUCKLE, CA (MPG) – Despite having their six-match win streak snapped in a 20-25, 22-25,18-25 loss to East Nicolaus on Oct. 22, the Bears bounced back two nights later to crush Winters 25-9, 25-11, 25-13 in its final regular season game of the year.
It was a frustrating outing against East Nicolaus because Pierce had it chances especially when it led 14-6 in the first set, but the defending Northern Section Division V champion Spartans regrouped and proceeded to reel off 13 straight points and go on to steal the win.
From there, the pattern continued, as the Bears missed opportunities by committing untimely errors that saw East Nic take control of the match.
Rylie Delepierre had eight kills and Charlie Wayman added seven more, but ultimately, the Spartans outhit Pierce 40-26.
Setters Leah Charter and Magali Jauregui handed out 13 and nine assists respectively.
Wayman also had a team-high 14 digs as East Nic purposefully hit away from libero Macey Myers, who made 10 digs in the loss.
Statistics from the win over Winters were not made available.
Concluding conference play as the Sacramento Valley League’s second place team, the Bears (25-7, 10-2) received the No. 1 seed in the Northern Section Division IV playoffs and are in the hunt for their first section title since 2018, when they defeated U-Prep in a close match.
Pierce has a first round bye and will to return the court on Nov. 5 in a second round match against either No. 4 Willows or No. 5 CORE Butte, with the winner advancing to the championship game on Nov. 9.