Aug. 26—It had been nearly two years since Frontier and Tehachapi met on the volleyball court, and plenty has changed during that 22-month stretch.
But on Wednesday night, the Titans had too much firepower, holding off a spirited, yet inexperienced Warriors squad for a 25-17, 29-31, 25-20, 25-22 non-league victory at Frontier.
Despite the victory, first-year Frontier coach Katie Gardenhire saw plenty of room for improvement for her team.
“I’m proud that we got a win,” said Gardenhire. “First and foremost, I’m glad we pulled out a win. But we’re going to get back in the gym and work hard, and fix some of the holes that we saw. And keep pushing through.”
Junior outside hitter Stevie Yursik led the way with a team-high 13 kills, including six during an important third set that helped Frontier regain momentum after dropping the second set and falling behind 6-0 in the third.
“We just needed to talk more on defense and to be more confident in it, but other than that, we did pretty good,” Yursik said. “I was trying to just talk to (my teammates). I don’t want it to always be me, I want it to be the other people on the team too, so I’m telling them, ‘come on, you got it.’ (When it comes to me) I just want the ball high so I can put it down, hopefully. I just try to help everybody else.”
And Yursik served as the spark, hammering home several powerful kills that brought the Titans’ student section to their collective feet.
“Having everyone cheer when I hit, that makes me feel like I’m inspiring the crowd, and some little girl in the crowd is going to be like, ‘I want to be like her,'” Yursik said. “That’s like what I want to be.”
With Yursik leading the charge, a balanced attack from Frontier (2-0), including Natalie Castillo, Avery Claunch and Monet Panther, made key contributions in the opening set before Tehachapi began to close the gap and push the Titans.
“Game one, we did a great job of siding-out on the first ball after a kill,” Gardenshire said. “As Game two and three went along, we started getting a little too comfortable and we were struggling at seeing the ball like we were in Game one. But in the last game, I knew these girls wanted to win, and pursued the ball at all costs even as they got tired.”
The previous time the two teams met, Halloween night in 2019 in the opening round of the Central Section Division II playoffs, it was a similar result. The Titans won in four, and Tehachapi hadn’t played again until defeating Burroughs-Ridgecrest in five sets in its season opener last week. The Warriors didn’t play last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and had just one player remaining from that 2019 squad, senior Aubree Dees.
“Playing a team like Frontier makes us better,” third-year Tehachapi coach Renn Amstead said. “I’m really pleasantly surprised at how well we played, because we’re still learning.”
After dropping the first set, the Warriors (1-1) fell behind early in the second set before recovering and evening the match in a marathon set on the strength of seven kills, two aces and a block from Dees. Both teams had three match points before Tehachapi closed out a 31-29 win on a kill by sophomore Sophia Kendrick.
Dees, who finished with a game-high 14 kills and six aces, had two kills and an ace to help Tehachapi win four of the last five points in the set. Junior Kaidence Lehman added seven kills and 6-foot-1 freshman Annie Loken added six blocks for the Warriors.
“We just made too many service errors in that first game,” said Amstead, whose team had eight, along with three aces. “As it was, we lost 25-17, with eight service errors. If we just had half of those we’re tied at 21 and you play from there.”
The momentum carried over in the third set when the Warriors scored the first six points, but Frontier responded with a 13-4 scoring run and led 13-10 when Brooke Shepherd scored on a block and followed with a kill. Yursik had three of her six kills in the set, including two scoring shots that pushed the Titans’ advantage to 24-18.
“We’re extremely young,” said Amstead, whose lineup relies heavily on several underclassmen, including a freshman and three sophomores and two juniors. “So it’s a work in progress. We’re kind of learning on the fly because we didn’t get to play last year.”
Tehachapi failed to hold an early lead in the fourth set, and when Monet Panther scored two aces as part of a 6-0 run, Frontier was ahead for good in what turned out to be the final set.
“I’m just looking to keep seeing where we are and where we need to keep building strength and working hard,” Gardenhire said. “That’s more important to me than what we’re even seeing in competition. It’s helping show where our flaws are and where we need to gain momentum.”