LADY BRUINS Candice Turk (left) and Caroline Gallagher celebrate a point against El Cerrito.

The St. Patrick-St. Vincent High girls varsity volleyball team swept its way into the Tri-County Athletic League semifinals with a 25-19, 25-19, 26-24 victory over visiting El Cerrito last Thursday.

The Lady Bruins (22-11) were tested late by an El Cerrito team they swept in three previous meetings during the regular season. Behind 6-foot-4 junior blocker Josephine Ough, the Lady Gauchos (8-15) had a 20-12 lead in the third set and some momentum.

“They were hitting deep on us and it took us awhile to adjust to that,” said SPSV senior Nikki Lumauod.

“We knew they would come out fighting but we still played our game,” added senior Candice Turk.

SPSV responded with a 9-1 run sparked by a kill from Caroline Gallagher and an ace from Chloe Ortega. Gallagher and freshman Jordan Murphy formed a solid defensive wall at the net to shut down Oughas as the Lady Bruins tied things 21-21. Kills by Lumauod and Kamryn Mitchell made it 24-22, and after El Cerrito fought off two match points, Mitchell ripped another kill and Alondra Magallanes delivered a serve the Lady Gauchos couldn’t handle to close out El Cerrito’s season.

“We had a lot of energy and an urgency to win,” said Lumauod, who had 12 kills and three digs for SPSV. “We’ve worked hard on finishing out sets and picking ourselves up.”

“It shows that we can fight ourselves out of a hole,” said Turk, who finished with six kills.

“When we can serve well and get teams out of their rhythm, we do well,” said SPSV head coach Danette Domecus.

The Lady Bruins were playing without starter Makahla Bolko, who sat out with an eye injury that could keep her out of Tuesday’s match at Albany. Gallagher picked up the slack with six kills and five aces.

To reach the TCAL finals, the Lady Bruins first must get past Albany (15-10), a team that swept SPSV in both regular season meetings.

“We just need to be mentally tougher and pass better,” Domecus said. “If we don’t pass, we don’t have an offense.”

“I think we’ll come in fired up with a lot of energy and just shut them down,” Lumauod said.

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