SOUTHERN SECTION GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL : Barons Survive--Barely

Heart did it for Fountain Valley this time around, but the Barons will need to call for help in the skill department for their next stop.

In a Southern Section Division II girls’ volleyball quarterfinal match against Sunset League rival Edison Tuesday night at Ocean View High, Fountain Valley took its foot out of its mouth in the nick of time for an 8-15, 15-10, 15-8, 12-15, 15-11 victory.

“We had enough heart but not enough talent,” said Fountain Valley Coach Mike Hinton, whose team advanced to Thursday’s semifinals against Bishop Montgomery.

Talent and a sudden burst of energy by the Barons combined to squelch Edison’s effort.

Trailing, 9-3, in the deciding game, Fountain Valley capitalized on several hitting errors, the middle blocking of Nicole Strange and the outside hitting of Kristin Moro to pull to 9-8.

That’s when senior outside hitter Gina Ybarra, who hadn’t been overpowering up to that point, kicked into high gear. Ybarra, who finished with 17 kills, put away the next three balls, and a wide Edison return gave the Barons a 12-9 lead.

Edison pulled to 12-11 off kills by Tina Daly and Jennifer Porterfield, but after a Fountain Valley timeout, Edison was penalized a point for a rotation violation and an ace by Kari Altice gave the Barons a 14-11 lead.

Edison held off Fountain Valley’s first match point, but Moro got a kill for the sideout, and an ace by junior Jenny Blake put an end to the match.

“I think we both played a great match,” said senior middle blocker Nicole Mordhorst. “They worked hard and we worked hard, but in the end, they did beat us. I hope they win it all.”

As does Fountain Valley, but the Barons know lapses and mistakes won’t win section titles. Fountain Valley must eliminate those errors and must find a way to defend strong middle blocking--which gave it plenty of trouble--before any crowns are to be awarded.

“There are things we still need to improve on,” Hinton said.

Desire not being one of them. Ybarra never lost confidence in her team.

“We started off slow,” Ybarra said. “Then we finally started playing together. It was scary for a while, but there wasn’t a second I didn’t think we wouldn’t pull it out.”

For Edison, five players combined for 53 kills with Kelli Liniger, Jill Cernok and Daly contributing 11 each. For Fountain Valley, Moro had 30 kills, with Strange adding 12 kills. Blake had six aces and setter Jessica Salmans had 62 assists.