photos by Charlie McDonald (charlie.mcdonald@surewestsports.com
by Mike Finnerty (mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com)
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The Bear River Bruins girl's volleyball team was on a mission this season, a mission for a section championship.
Coming up short against Union Mine in last year's Sac-Joaquin Section Division III championship made this senior-laden Bear River team work even harder for a different outcome this year.
On Thursday at the Pavilion at U.C. Davis, the Bear River got another shot a Division III title, and this time the Bruins delivered with a 3-1 win over Ripon Christian.
"We've been working so hard, and this is all I ever wanted from a season," said senior setter and co-captain Kaya Johnson.
The game's biggest impact player was Bear River senior Sara Schell who had a team high in kills (18), digs (21), and blocks (three).
A force on offense, Schell played with the fire of a senior who knew how hard the team worked to get back to Davis and that there's still work to be done.
"It's so crazy. We've been working really hard this season and wanted it bad. Everybody wants to keep going, nobody wants it to end. We have nine seniors this year, so we want to go as far as we can."
The match didn't start well for Bear River after falling behind in the opening set, but a big rally led to the Bruins taking the first set 25-22.
Ripon Christian came back and took the second set 25-20, but Bear River held on and took the final two sets (25-19, 25-23) for the win.
"Our team this year is really consistent," said Schell. "We never get down on ourselves, we're all friends."
Bear River (31-12) captured it's third section title in girl's volleyball, and it's first since 1998 when the Bruins won their only Division III title.
After dominating the Division V section playoffs with 15 titles, it was Ripon Christian's first appearance in a Division IV title match.
Johnson knew that section championship was possible just three weeks prior.
"I think we had a possibility, but once we beat Placer I really felt like we turned it on, went to a whole knew level, killed it, it was awesome.
The Bruins will continue the season with round one of the NorCal playoffs next week, and Johnson knows what they need to do to be successful.
"We leave it all on the court, that's what you have to do."