Enrique Ortega is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Central High School for AZPreps365.com

Central and Sierra Linda were on fall break last week, but the Bulldogs did not let the rest get in the way of their win against the Bobcats. 

Sierra Linda overpowered Central’s girls volleyball team in four sets, 25-16, 25-18, 19-25, 25-19 in what looms as a huge victory for the Bulldogs in the season's final stretch for the playoff push. 

Central (7-5, 8-6) needed the victory as they were tied with Sierra Linda in regional play before the game. 

“I have some not-so-nice words about my disappointment that we lost tonight,” Central coach Kristin Harris said. “We're [ranked] 29th right now with that loss. Unfortunately, I think we will probably be in the thirties, which will be really difficult to crawl out of to make our play-in game for playoffs.”

The Bulldogs doubled Central’s score at one point in the first set with a lead of 20-10. Central tried to scrape some points back but was unable to recover as Sierra Linda won the set, 25-16. 

Much like the first set, the Bulldogs continued their dominant spell in the second. With a lead almost identical to the first set, they were up 20-11 but this time Bulldogs junior Debanhi Aguiar took control with seven kills and one ace. 

“She's definitely a big staple in our lineup,” Sierra Linda coach Alysa Wertz said. “We can always count on her defensively. She pretty much carried our back row at one point and on offense, she's amazing.”

Aguiar finished the game with 11 kills and the one ace. 

The Bobcats tried to fight back but lost the second set, 25-18. 

However, Central did not give up as the Bobcats took an early 10-4 lead in the third set thanks to senior Clarice Johnson, who had three kills and two blocks in the set. 

“The energy was there,” Johnson said. “I fed off of other people's energy and that helped me target what I needed to target on the other opposite team.”

Johnson ended the night with eight kills, four aces, and two blocks. 

The Bobcats took the third set, 25-19, hoping to start a comeback but Sierra Linda wanted to finish the game in four. Both teams were fighting back and forth but the Bulldogs won the final set, and subsequently the match, with the same score as the third, 25-19. 

Wertz praised Central’s willingness to never stop fighting as it kept the Bulldogs attentive to the game.

“Central is a very scrappy team,” Wertz said. “They pushed balls deep. They go over on one, over on two. Their setters are very good. Those little dumps over the net definitely kept us on our toes.”

Harris blamed the slow start to the game on herself as she wanted to give her players some time off during the break.

“We just started a little bit slow,” Harris said. “That's on me. I made that decision. I thought we needed rest. I thought having a week off would give them some time. But at the same time, I think it was a little bit too much.”

Central junior Bethany Ulibari agreed with her coach and said the break made the team forgetful.

“I think it's just a loss in memory,” Ulibari said. “We need to get in a pattern [for the upcoming games].”

Central will play at South Mountain (9-4, 9-4) on Friday at 6 p.m. Sierra Linda (9-3, 10-3) will host North Canyon on Wednesday at 6 p.m.