Grizzlies reload for run at third straight SAL volleyball crown

By Dan Tucker

Three-peat. The phrase carries weight in any athletic arena. Winning three consecutive league championships is a rare achievement at any level, but in the high school sports arena, it can be especially difficult. Graduation routinely strips programs of top talent, sending standouts on to the next level and forcing coaches to rebuild while trying to sustain a championship standard.

Coming off a runaway 29-win season that included a perfect 14-0 mark in Southern Athletic League play and a second straight league championship, fifth-year head coach Holly Earling enters the new season with confidence.

“Of my seven starters, five are returning,” Earling said. Among the returning players are two sets of sisters — Emma and Gillian Pioski, and Abby and Grace Beery — each of whom earned All-SAL honorable mention recognition last season.

“Emma and Gillian are kind of like the leaders on the team,” Earling explained. “They came up halfway through their freshman year, so they’ve got a lot of varsity level experience.”

Chloe King and Taylor Krull are the team’s other two seniors. The roster also features juniors Tylie Allison, Olivia Twiss, Abby Beery, Jade Lust and Kylee Hutchings, with Kylie Williams listed as the lone sophomore.

“Our system is designed so just about anyone can step in at different positions,” Earling noted. She will carry a 12-player roster, a number she said gives the Grizzlies flexibility in practice and depth during the season. “It’s a good number, it works well for practice so we can go six-on-six, and with the talent we have, I didn’t feel like cutting anyone. Sometimes it’s hard to get them all into a game, but we try.”

The team’s balance showed in last season’s final statistical leaders. As a junior, Gillian Pioske led the Grizzlies with 292 kills, while senior Sage Hawley added 269. Junior Emma Pioske paced the club from the service line with 90 aces, Abby Beery followed with 89, and senior Isabel Whited finished with a team-best 53 total blocks.

Mariposa dominated league competition from start to finish last season, unbeaten against SAL foes and finishing ahead of Stone Ridge Christian and Denair in the standings. The Grizzlies also ranked among the top Division V teams in the Sac-Joaquin Section, closing the season with a .744 winning percentage.

“Stone Ridge is always tough in league play and I’m sure they’ll be after us,” Earling said about the upcoming season.

Tuesday the Grizzlies took on Central Valley in a non-league contest. Courtney Dayhoff coaches Central Valley, and she played for Mariposa in high school. “We’re pretty close to the same age, and she was on one of the first teams I ever coach,” Earling remembered.

The Grizzlies’ season ended Oct. 30 last year in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs, where Mariposa County fell to Colfax, 3-1. The loss snapped a seven-match winning streak that had carried the team through the closing stretch of the year, including a playoff victory over Bret Harte two days earlier.

Although the playoff run ended short of a section title, Mariposa County’s unbeaten league record and 29-win season marked one of the program’s strongest recent finishes, giving the Grizzlies a firm standard to build on heading into the new year.

“Our goal this season is a second-round win in the playoffs,” Earling added. In their first tournament action of the season, just last weekend, the Grizzlies finished 3-2 and in fourth place at the Orestimba Tournament. “It was good experience for us, especially against some really good, larger school programs,” Earling said.