Volleyball playoffs: Pitman hopes to send coach off with win, teams defend section titles

After more than 15 seasons, over 350 career wins and a number of league, Sac-Joaquin Section and NorCal volleyball titles, one of the area’s most successful coaches has circled 2023 as her last season on the sidelines.

Pitman High’s Kristen Pontes-Christian will retire at the end of the 2023 postseason. Current Pride assistant coach Ari Amini will take over the program next season.

“My kids are 5 and 8 and very busy,” she said. “So I just feel like I just need to be more involved with what they’re doing. This has taken a lot of time, a lot of evenings and a lot of weekends and I just decided that this was the season to stop.”

Pontes-Christian can put her resume up against any coach in the Stanislaus District and quite possibly Northern California. Since taking over the Pride in 2007, she has led the program to 10 league championships — in the Central California Conference and Central California Athletic League — along with three straight Sac-Joaquin Section championships in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and a NorCal title in 2014.

“Every first was super exciting and super important at the time,” she said, reflecting on her coaching career.

Her job is not quite finished, as in her 17th season, she has guided the Pride to a 32-5 record, CCAL title and a No. 4 seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. Pitman consistently was a top 5 team in the section all season, led by setter Payton Rowell, who leads the state in total assists and a versatile offense that features Madison Eissayou (one of the state’s leaders in hitting percentage), Maryn Hall and Ella Sniezek, who all have over 200 kills on the season.

“This group of 11 players are amazing teammates, very positive, great work ethic and they just want to improve, they want to learn, they want to be successful,” Pontes-Christian said. “They took a lot of pride in being Pitman volleyball this year and I think there’s a lot of buy-in. It’s a great group who work hard for each other and who work hard for us as coaches. And we can’t ask for more than that.”

The Pride are looking to take the lessons they learned from last year’s section semifinal appearance and use them this season to get to the championship game and send their coach off with a blue banner. They will work their way through a loaded Division I bracket that includes four of the top seven teams in the Sac-Joaquin Section. Anyone can be beaten, no matter their ranking.

“I mean, who doesn’t want to go out on top, right? That would be amazing, but to be honest, it’s not so much about me,” Pontes-Christian said when asked what winning a section title this year would mean. “These girls have worked so hard and I would be just so happy for them because they will have earned it. It would be that award for all of the sweat and the tears and the hard work in the gym.”

Pontes-Christian loves the process of coaching, from the improvements she sees in players on and off the court to the relationships she has been able to make with athletes and their families. Though she is stepping away for now, she has not ruled out a return at some point when her kids are older.

“When I say stop, I obviously would love to come back,” she said. “My daughter is in third grade, so if she wants to play at Pitman when she gets there, then I would love to come back. Or if when the kids are all grown up and are not as busy, then I would love to come back. So I feel like this is not a forever goodbye, but just for now.”

Ripon defending D-IV title with experience

When new Ripon head coach Greg Soliz took over at the start of the season, the first thing he did was point to the league championship banner on the gym wall.

“Their goal was to win league this year,” he said after a league win earlier this season. “When I came in, I said, ‘2016 was last time you guys won league.’ I said, ‘So you guys need to look up there and say, “Hey, let’s get that back.”’”

The team, led by experienced seniors who have played in big games during their careers, went a perfect 10-0 in Trans Valley League play this season. In all of their league wins, they dropped just two sets and never played a five-set match. They finished with just five total losses on the season and win 27 games, securing the most regular season wins since 2010.

“Defense has been big for us,” said Soliz, who coached for more than 20 years at Los Banos High and spent a season as an assistant at Central Catholic High. “We’ve made our mentality where nothing hits the ground. We’re going hard for every ball. We don’t stop until that whistle is blown.”

Ripon is the defending Division IV section champion, with a large number of key contributors from last season’s team returning.

Reagan Wilkerson, who is eighth in California and third in the section in serving aces, and Kaya Whittaker, who is ninth in the section in serving aces, join sophomore Adriana Dorn and seniors Kylee Fullmer, Katherine Eskes and Kailee Inderbitzin as some of the key returners who hope to lead Ripon to back-to-back section titles.

Ripon was awarded the top seed in Division IV and on Oct. 24 will host the winner of the Amador at Encina Prep play-in game.

“They stay together, even in tight games,” Soliz said. “They don’t panic. … Having a lot of good seniors helps, and we have some great setters that run our offense. Senior-wise, they’re in control, so that’s good.”

Defending section & state champ Ripon Christian earns D-IV No. 2 seed

Ripon Christian was moved up to Division IV for the 2023 postseason due to the section’s continued success rule and will chase its fourth straight section title in a new division. The Knights won D-V blue banners in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and capped last season with the program’s second-ever state championship. They defeated Central Valley Christian of Visalia for the 2022 Division IV state title, winning state for the first time in over 20 seasons.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing what we can do,” Knights coach Kayla Kootstra said of playing in a higher division this postseason. “I think if we just continue to improve the way that we are capable of and to play the way that we are capable of, we should be competitive through playoffs.”

The Knights have a ton of experienced returners. Among them are seniors Jordan Vander Veen, Sydney Hoffman, Leah Van Wyngarden and Megan Weststeyn, who all have at least one section title and have played in big games during their career.

“They’re very good players, which is helpful, but they also just bring a presence and a calm, and also some leadership and some intensity when we need it,” Kootstra said. “It’s exciting to have them there as the core of the team.”

The Knights have played a number of playoff teams in many different divisions across different sections in the CIF and against most of them, came out on top. They finished the season with a 28-5 record, a perfect 14-0 Southern League record and enter the postseason having won 80 sets and lost just 14 sets this season.

Escalon returns to Division III after last year’s title

Escalon is back in Division III after winning the 2022 section title in five competitive sets over Christian Brothers. Led by seniors Emily Vickers, Gianna Bava, Carsyn Hood and Rylie Lattig, the Cougars captured their third consecutive section title and their first in D-III. Last year’s seniors graduated and veteran head coach Teresa Williamson retired, paving the way for a new team of just three seniors, two freshmen and eight juniors led by first-year varsity head coach Shaylynn Beam. She spoke about the team’s journey after a league game against Ripon.

“We have a lot of talent on this team, we might just be a little younger,” said Beam, who was the JV head coach last year and has also coached the freshman team.

“I had (the juniors) last year, and I was their freshman coach as well. ... They’re stepping up when they need to. We have two middles that were sophomores on varsity last year, so I think that definitely helps.”

Despite their youth, the Cougars maintained a top-three spot in the TVL, finishing second with just two league losses to Ripon. In the Divsion III bracket, they were seeded fourth by the section’s seeding committee and will open the 2023 postseason at home against No. 13 Lathrop.

Seniors Sophia Martin, Macie Vickers and Kendra Gwartney bring leadership, and juniors Chloe Fraser, Lisa Murga, Claire Barkus and Karisa McNeil are filling in roles as some of the team’s attacking, blocking and assist leaders on the team that continued to improve deeper into the season.

Key players to watch

Division I

Payton Rowell, Pitman: No. 1 in California, No. 1 in Sac-Joaquin Section in assists (1,072)

Madison Eissayou, Pitman: No. 11 in California, No. 5 in Sac-Joaquin Section in hitting percentage (0.446) and No. 15 in Sac-Joaquin Section in total blocks (64)

Maryn Hall, Pitman: No. 15 in Sac-Joaquin Section in kills (296)

Lauren Parker, Turlock: No. 9 in Sac-Joaquin Section in kills (345)

Nikkie Miranda, Turlock: No. 9 in Sac-Joaquin Section in assists (718)

Lillie Miranda, Turlock: No. 3 in Sac-Joaquin Section in digs (437)

Avery Johnson, Enochs: No. 10 in Sac-Joaquin Section in digs (370)

Division III

Shelby Jackson, Central Catholic: No. 24 in California, No. 3 in Sac-Joaquin Section in kills (378)

Madison Genasci, Central Catholic: No. 10 in Sac-Joaquin Section in assists (665)

Morgan Lung, Central Catholic: No. 15 in Sac-Joaquin Section in digs (337)

Lisa Murga, Escalon: No. 17 in Sac-Joaquin Section in total blocks (68)

Fallon Freeman, OH, Beyer: No. 21 in California, No. 9 in Sac-Joaquin Section in hitting percentage (0.399)

Division IV

Reagan Wilkerson, Ripon: No. 7 in California, No. 3 in Sac-Joaquin Section in serving aces (116)

Kaya Whittaker, Ripon: No. 9 in Sac-Joaquin Section in serving aces (89)

Sydney Hoffman, MB, Ripon Christian: No. 2 in California, No.1 in Sac-Joaquin Section in hitting percentage (0.512)

Leah Van Wyngarden, OH/L, Ripon Christian: No. 6 in California, No. 2 in Sac-Joaquin Section in serving aces (122)

Megan Weststeyn, S, Ripon Christian: No. 10 in California, No. 3 in Sac-Joaquin Section in assists (841)

Jordan Vander Veen, OH, Ripon Christian: No. 6 in Sac-Joaquin Section in kills (358)

Emma Gomes, Hilmar: No. 11 in Sac-Joaquin Section in total blocks (69)

Division V

Ella Alavezos, Big Valley Christian: No. 18 in California, No. 6 in Sac-Joaquin Section in serving aces (105)

Jordan Beers, Big Valley Christian: No. 7 in Sac-Joaquin Section in kills (352)