Crystal Gryphons grab Nor Cal crown

“Honestly, it’s crazy,” Crystal senior Alexa Tarnarider said. “I get emotional thinking about it because … our program has never made it this far before. And, honestly, it’s history in the making.”

One of just two seniors in Crystal’s starting lineup, Tarnarider stepped to the service line late in the closing set after the Gryphons’ magical momentum culminated in a play that bordered on miraculous. Amid a long, scrappy duel in the front row, freshman outside hitter Ellie Lee retrieved an errant second touch at net. Lee sprinted across the sideline and past the post, and looked as though she had zero angle for any kind of return.

Lee’s determination and sheer volleyball instincts produced the miraculous return, though, one that saw her two-hand reverse bump float over the net at a tight angle to find the floor on the Bradshaw side, giving Crystal a 21-18 lead late in Game 3.

“Honestly, it’s just the effort of all of our players,” Tarnarider said. “She knew she needed to get that done for our team, and she put her whole heart into it. And I think it showed.”

The side-out sent Tarnarider to the service line, where the senior promptly fired back-to-back aces to make it 23-18. Then with Bradshaw ratcheting up the defense at match point, Crystal kept up the effort with a forever rally. The Gryphons had two attacks come so close to landing they began celebrating both times before quickly snapping back into defensive postures.

Finally, with excitement and adrenaline coursing through the packed Bradshaw Christian gymnasium, Crystal junior Gabi Tomastis finished out the point with a swing off the right side to give the Gryphons the championship.

“I had a few balls where I didn’t get the kill,” Tomatis said. “But I just wanted to keep the ball in play so that the play wouldn’t be over. My coach talked to me about hitting at angle because the middle was the weaker blocker. So, I really tried to do that on the last ball, and it worked.”

For Crystal head coach Chelby Spray, there was a profound sense of family tied to the Nor Cal triumph. Her father James Spray — who ran the school’s volleyball program from 2011-22, before relocating to Hawaii — was in attendance Tuesday. And, in a way, the Spray family had three generations in attendance, as Chelby Spray is pregnant and due in February.

So, it’s fitting Chelby Spray took over the relatively young Crystal team this season, one that has more freshman starters than senior ones. All three of those freshmen, including Lee, had a hand in Tuesday’s victory.

“It was a lot of work with building up their confidence and trusting the plan,” Spray said. “They’re coming from eighth-grade volleyball. Even if they play with a power club team, it’s a whole different game when you’re playing 17- and 18-year-olds that can now put up a block.”

Lee scored a team-high 10 kills, but it was her defense that was particularly spellbinding.

“She was amazing,” Spray said. “She watched film over the past two days with us. We talked about what their outside hitters like to do and set her up in that defense … but all of her net play was just full-effort net play. Her net play was phenomenal tonight.”

It was the serve receive of Lee and freshman Kathy Zhang that set the tone early though.

Crystal got off to a fast start, jumping ahead 7-1 in Game 1. That changed in a hurry, however, when Bradshaw senior Jocelyn Feaster stepped to the service line. The All-Sierra Valley Conference first-team selection went on an epic run, firing five consecutive aces to even the set at 8-8.

Feaster would go on to total 10 aces in the match.

“We knew,” Spray said. “We watched film. We knew it was coming. She did get a couple runs on us, but it was important that we try to get out of that rotation as quickly as possible.”

Crystal finally got Feaster off the service line by going to its strength at the middle block, when junior Ella Beebe spiked scored the first of her three match blocks to swing the Gryphons ahead 9-8. Beebe followed with a kill on a blast through the middle, and Zhang delivered an ace to make it 11-8. Bradshaw would bounce back to tie it at 15-15, but a service fault by the Lions set off a 6-0 Crystal run and a walk to the Game 1 win.

Bradshaw turned the tables early in Game 2, though, jumping out to an early lead, then going up 21-17 on back-to-back Feaster aces. Stella Watson hit a coffin corner kill to make it 24-21.

But a Bradshaw service fault forced a side-out, and Lee delivered an ace to close it to 24-23. The Lions got called into the net to send the set to extra-points, the first in a string of Bradshaw errors to give the Gryphons a 2 sets to 0 advantage.

Still, the pace of play seemed neck-and-neck to that point.

“We knew we were coming up against a team that was very consistent and mirrored us a lot in terms of spreading the ball around to all hitters,” Spray said. “Very similar journeys to get here.”

Part of Crystal’s journey was Saturday’s Nor Cal regional semifinal victory over Skyline-Oakland, a five-set nailbiter that saw the Gryphons win the first two sets, only to drop games 3 and 4 before prevailing 15-12 in the decisive Game 5. It was a lesson learned, as Crystal vowed not to let up in Game 3 at Bradshaw.

“After the game against Skyline, we discussed push after the first two sets,” Tarnarider said. “Because … sometimes after the first two, we would let up a little bit. And on this one, we kept our mentality at 100%, and we just pushed through for this third set.”

Watson led all players with 11 kills and turned in her best set in Game 3 with five kills and a block. But the Gryphons built an 11-6 lead, forcing the Lions to use both their timeouts early. And even though Bradshaw closed to within two points several times, and as late as 20-18, Crystal seized on the momentum during the long run of play through the endgame, and certainly during the back-and-forth brawl at championship point.

“I think that everybody sort of wanted that final kill to win,” Tomatis said. “But I think we did a great job on defense — recovering, and they were tipping on us, and our back-row wings were doing a great job getting those balls up — and we didn’t back down, I feel like.”

Crystal now advances to the CIF Division V state championship finals at Santiago Canyon College in Orange to take on Oceanside, the Southern California DV regional champion, Friday at 4 p.m.

“We have such a great dynamic,” Tarnarider said. “Everyone’s welcoming, everyone’s selfless, and I think that we’re all there on and off the court. And I just think it’s been a magical season.”