The Hemet High School girls’ volleyball team defeated Ontario’s Colony High School 3-1, in a quarterfinals match of the CIF-SS Division 4AA tournament Saturday night.
Hemet lost a tight first game easily, 23-25. After trailing in the second game, the Hemet Bulldogs pulled their act together, as coach Janie Washburn has told them and won the next three games (25-15, 25-17 and 25-16).
Each game went back and forth until about the midpoint and Hemet would then run off streaks of 4 and 5 points to earn tough wins.
After the match, Washburn said, “I love these games where you’re fighting for every point.”
However, Twenty-nine Palms responded in the third game. They took an early lead 2-1 and maintained until the score was13-11 in their favor. At that point, Hemet coach Janie Washburn called a timeout.
“I told them to get their ‘act’ together and play volleyball,” she said describing her motivation talk. Twentynine Palms only scored one more point, before Hemet won 25-14.
Hemet’s CIF SS semi-final match will be 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 13. They will play at Loara High School (the Golden West League champs) in Anaheim. Colony was 20-0 for the season and seeded third, behind Hemet, in the 4AA Division. They beat Connelly High School (the team which Hemet beat in the CIF finals last year) 3-0.
Both matches are 7 p.m., Tuesday. while Hemet travels, San Jacinto is at home in their battle with Saddleback.
