Here's how Calallen pulled off a 5th set comeback to advance in the playoffs
The Calallen volleyball team was faced with match point and no time outs in the fifth set against Devine on Tuesday.
There was still some faith the Wildcats could pull off the comeback, even facing long odds against an Arabian team that had found its hitting stride over the later stages of the match. Calallen, though, used a little bit of luck and some strong serving to close up the deficit and win the fifth set in extra points to make a return to the Region IV-4A tournament.
The Wildcats topped Devine 25-9, 19-25, 25-19, 20-25, 17-15 at the Carroll High School Arena, and helping to reinforce coach Ashley Pettus' belief in her team.
"My team doesn't know sometimes, I think how good they actually are," Pettus said. "And they do well udner pressure and I think that whenever push comes to shove, in a situation where it was do or die, they wanted to do it. I think they waited around a little long for all of our comfort levels but they did it and I'm super proud of them."
Tuesday's highlights
The victory marks the second time in three seasons the Wildcats will be heading to the regional tournament with their last visit coming in 2021, which also included topping Devine in the regional quarterfinals. Tuesday night, the Wildcats experienced the ebbs and flows of a playoff match that provided a fitting fifth-set ending.
After splitting the first two sets, Devine rolled to a 5-0 lead in the fifth set that inclued three kills from Brooklyn Miller, who along with Rylee Esquibel keyed the Arabians offense throughout the match. The lead increased to 11-5 after another Esquibel kill. Calallen, though, cut the lead to 14-11 after a Taylor Paredez block.
That block sparked Calallen's final rally.
The Wildcats scored four straight points, three coming off Arabian errors and one an Lauren Dillon ace. The match ended with Jayden Lindgren making a play at the net and the ball falling on the Devine side to end it.
Tuesday's stars
Calallen's Ashley Robertson finished the night with 19 kills with Autumn Garza adding eight to go with 22 assists, and Grace Martinez contributing 23 assists. Jordyn Thibodeaux had six blocks, Paredez five and Robertson four.
They said it
Calallen's Ashley Robertson on the fifth-set victory: "From the start we had a rough time, but towards the middle and the end we had a really good team connection toward the end and we fought the hardest we could of. And that's the way it came out."
Calallen's Grace Martinez on the fifth-set victory: "We have our coach talking to us on the side, but we know what to do and what we need to do to finish through. We just need to talk to each other, talking together, always very loud, talking together figuring out what to do and motivating each other to win. And that's what we did, we motivated each other and worked hard to finish."
Next
Calallen advances to take on Comal Davenport at 5 p.m. Friday at Littleton Gym in San Antonio in a Region IV-4A semifinal.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Calallen volleyball's 5th set comeback pushes it to regional tourney
