Prep Volleyball: Serrano's dominant run continues, sweeps Oak Hills and improves to 17-0
The Serrano volleyball team wrapped up the first round of Mojave River League action with a bang Tuesday night.
Led by Madison DiGiorgio’s eight aces, 12 kills and 19 digs, the Diamondbacks swept Oak Hills in three sets (25-11, 25-20, 25-18) at home.
Serrano still hasn’t lost a set in league play, and is now a perfect 17-0 on the season, while Oak Hills falls to 10-6-3. Ranked as the 24th-best team in the state, Serrano were the heavy favorites at home against Oak Hills, which has turned into a friendly rivalry.
Most of these girls know each other from club volleyball, which adds to the rivalry dynamic despite one team having far more success than the other.
“Oak Hills is definitely one of our rivals, so that was definitely exciting heading into the game,” Serrano senior Madison DiGiorgio said. “I have a lot of friends on that team so that personal rivalry kind of riles up the game.”
Serrano still did not sell Oak Hills short and knew that the Bulldogs would bring the energy on the court.
When asked about her performance in the game, DiGiorgio instead focused on the team’s performance and one key improvement she saw in the win.
“We talked a lot more than we have been so that was a really good improvement for our team,” DiGiorgio said.
Also playing a big role for Serrano not only in this game but all season is fellow senior captain Lauren Gott. She led the team with 13 kills and played a critical role for the Diamondbacks on defense as well.
“They were trying to attack our right side and I kept pushing Lauren over there,” Serrano head coach Chelsey Talbott said. “She was great for us tonight.”
Serrano will begin its second matches against each team on Thursday against Burroughs. The Burros are 3-1 in league play and is the closest team in the MRL to taking a set against Serrano, dropping its second set 22-25 against the Diamondbacks earlier this season.
Not taking the rest of the season lightly, Talbott said the team is gearing up for a playoffs run.
“We’re trying things offensively and defensively because as far as our league goes, this (Oak Hills) is the biggest block we are going to see,” Talbott said. “Defensively they were able to work against us so we can see things that we can work on for CIF and we did. But it jumps quite a bit in CIF once we get out of our league.”
For the Bulldogs, Keonahi'ilani Solaita led the team with eight kills to go along with an ace, two blocks, nine digs, and Sara Pagnoni dished 17 assists with four digs, two aces and a kill.
Oak Hills (10-6-3, 4-1 MRL) will be on the road again on Thursday to take on Hesperia. The Bulldogs swept, holding the Scorpions to less than 20 points a set in the first matchup earlier this month.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Prep Volleyball: Serrano's dominant run continues, sweeps Oak Hills
