Redlands edges Beaumont volleyball in five sets; REV flag football falls to Cajon

BEAUMONT – Redlands and Beaumont high schools met to open the Citrus Belt League girls’ volleyball season on Tuesday, and the showdown did not disappoint.

The rollercoaster match went five sets, with Redlands winning 25-13, 21-25, 25-21, 13-25, 15-13.

“I looked at my heart rate monitor and it was at like 150,” Redlands coach Corinne Flowers joked. “It was rough. I was pretty nervous.”

But the Terriers (16-4 overall) have the championship pedigree, having won three consecutive CBL titles. Team captains Kameryn Carpenter and Ava Reyes helped Redlands seize leads of 4-0, 8-2, 10-5, and  14-9 in the fifth set.

Beaumont (7-3) did not flinch and scored four consecutive points to cut its deficit to 14-13. But then Redlands’ Jaydee Zook pounded one through the heart of the Cougar defense for the victory.

Several Terriers raised their arms in triumph as Flowers and Redlands assistant coach Heather Wingo bolted off the bench for the center of the court.

“I kind of had a talk with my team and I told them that if we want to win this match we need to stick together and we can’t get mad at each other,” Reyes said. “We need to remain a team and execute and that’s what we did.”

Reyes had 12 digs and passed at a lofty 1.9 percent.  Carpenter paced the Terriers with 17 kills and Zook, a transfer from Los Osos, had nine kills. Jocelyn McNairy chipped in with three blocks and four kills.

“The fact that we know it’s only going to 15 (in the firth set) was important,” Carpenter said. “Sometimes we have a problem with closing. We were just thinking, ‘OK, one more set and then we got this game. One more set.'"

Carpenter, a junior outside hitter, was calm throughout the match and especially in the deciding set.

“I feel like I try to keep a calm demeanor, even though I am really anxious,” Carpenter said. “I feel like if I play calm then my teammates are going to want to play calm. If I get spazzy, then it’s not good.”

Crystal Adams led Beaumont with 15 kills and Ally Chase, whose father is on the Beaumont High faculty, sent lasers whizzing around the court and finished with 13 kills.

Multi-sport star Adams looked spent following the marathon match.

“It was really long,” Adams said. “We worked really hard so it was sad to lose. But it was a really good game.”

Redlands won the third set 25-21 and led 2-1. But Beaumont dominated the fourth, pummeling Redlands 25-13.

“I was frustrated in the fourth set,” Flowers said. “Everything was working for them, but that’s just volleyball. We changed our lineup a little – we wanted to see attacking first and then play defense. I think that really helped us. In a match that goes to the last set, it can go either way. You try to tell the girls to stay calm and not to get frustrated.”

Redlands started quickly at the outset, winning the first set 25-13, with Zook scoring the 24th point on a kill. She was at Los Osos High in Rancho Cucamonga and had knee surgery last December. Her family moved to Redlands in April and she has fit in nicely to the Terrier lineup.

Of course, Reyes is a perennially good fit. Now in her fourth year on varsity, she leads a stellar Terrier defense from her Libero position.

“She’s just so good,” Flowers said. “She really stepped it up and Sofia Farrokhi played well and Kam (Carpenter) was reading well and Gianna (Corona) – they all did well.”

Said Reyes, “I think this is a really good win, especially coming in and knowing Beaumont has really good players. Obviously, it went to five, so it was a good match. It was really nerve-wracking, but it felt like a good win to start off league.”

The teams meet again on Oct. 2 in Redlands.

FLAG FOOTBALL

Cajon 20, Redlands East Valley 19.

The teams were tied 7-7 at the half, then Cajon (10-2, 2-1) outscored REV 13-12 in the fourth quarter. Two made 1-point extra points lifted Cajon.

Senior receiver Janiya Zamora had the game-winning touchdown catch for Cajon on a post pattern. Ilene Garcia delivered the ball.

The Cajon upset of the Wildcats (13-5) left the teams in a second-place tie in the CBL, behind first-place Beaumont (14-1, 2-0).

Zamora had two touchdowns, giving her five in two games. Jasmine Jackson scored the other Cajon TD.

The loss was the fourth consecutive for REV which lost three games Saturday in an Orange County tournament.

“It’s a tough loss – nobody likes to lose at home,” REV coach Andrew Saibene said. “But Cajon’s a good team and we expected this kind of matchup. We made a lot of mistakes.”

Asked what he would say to the girls, Saibene said, “It’s very emotional. The girls don’t like to lose. It’s tough right now because we started out hot. Now the tables are turned, and we need to turn things around and stay positive and keep moving.”

It was an excellent win for Cajon which fell 26-20 to Beaumont last week.

“What helped us today was we got two one-point conversions and they didn’t,” Cajon coach Jeff Imbriani said. “They got one conversion, and we got two.”

A huge game remaining on the CBL schedule is Beaumont at REV on Sept. 30.