College of San Mateo volleyball heading to Nor Cal finals

With the Bulldogs trailing 26-25 in extra points, CSM’s acting head coach Nicole Rathman called a timeout and handed the 60-second meeting to Goldhahn, who had all eyes laser focused on her message.

“I can’t tell you (what I said), I blacked out,” Goldhahn said. “It went dark.”

Nonetheless, the message was received, as CSM rallied for three straight points — including back-to-back rocket kills by outside hitter Naomie Cremoux to win it — en route to sweeping 28-26, 25-20, 25-18 past Taft College (16-10) Tuesday night in San Mateo.

“It worked, whatever it was,” Goldhahn said.

In fact, what Goldhahn said in the timeout was a tactical message about CSM’s serve receive and passing, fundamentals that were giving the Bulldogs fits despite outplaying Taft up front. Cremoux went on to record a match-high 21 kills. In comparison, Taft totaled 26 match kills as a team.

Still, the Cougars leveraged an early 12-11 lead when Taft freshman ShaCe Niu scored on a 50-50 ball, and they traded leads with CSM until the Bulldogs found themselves trailing in extra-points heading into the pivotal timeout.

“She basically said we need to clean up our serve receive,” CSM middle blocker Valerie Bruk said, “and this is a game of serve and passing. That’s basically the foundation of volleyball. And once we have that, our offense can finish the rest of the work because our offense can do its work, and our offense and defense just work together very nicely.”

Bruk got off to a fast start in Game 1, putting down four kills on her opening rotation through the front row. The sophomore was the emotional leader on the court, celebrating with her patented over-the-top exuberance after each of her 13 kills.

But it was Cremoux who took over the match after delivering her first kill of the night — an epic hangtime that left her to deliver a straight-down spike off the left side — to use CSM’s quick-strike tactics in an effort to counter Taft’s reliance on lengthy rallies.

“She held the team on her back,” Goldhahn said. “She had 21 kills on 40 attempts, and we needed that because we didn’t find our stride today. I think we play a different volleyball game than Taft does. It was apparent.”

Game 2 saw the Bulldogs hold off a middlegame surge by the Cougars, who responded to CSM’s 18-12 lead with a 6-1 run to close it to 19-18. But Bruk and Cremoux finished with a one-two punch, combining for the last three kills of the set. In Game 3, CSM hit the throttle on a crisp roll shot by Cremoux to go up 17-14 and led by at least 3 the rest of the way.

CSM freshman MJ Pakola scored match point with a loud roof, her third block of the night.

“It felt amazing,” Pakola said. “It felt great.”

Pakola also raved about the fan draw at CSM, with a crowd consisting of players and coaches from the school’s softball, basketball and football teams.

“It felt great,” Pakola said. “Usually, our stands aren’t as packed because people have things to do. But it felt great to see other sports teams’ athletes come out and support us. And we’ll definitely be at their games as well.”

CSM freshman Tui Saluni added 10 kills. Taft was paced by freshman outside hitter Bethany Himalaya — one of five players on roster from Hawaii ­— with 11 kills and two aces.

Now, CSM advances to the Nor Cal regional finals Saturday, matching the furthest any CSM team has ever advanced in the postseason tournament. After receiving a first-round bye, Tuesday’s opener for CSM was in the Nor Cal regional semifinals. Saturday’s regional finals will see the Bulldogs host No. 12 Cabrillo at 6 p.m. Saturday’s winner advances to the state championship tournament.

Last season, the Bulldogs were eliminated in the Nor Cal regional finals by West Valley.

“Our sophomores who were at that West Valley game, they have something to play for,” Goldhahn said. “They were incredibly prepared last year and then just fell flat. It was kind of a very unexpected, hard reality to see our season end on that game considering what we had accomplished, and the confidence we came into that match. So, I think for those returners, coming into Saturday, they’re going to have vengeance and playing for pride, and playing to have a redo, so to speak.”

Rathman, who is still serving as acting head coach, noted the smooth transition since taking over the role. While Goldhahn around quite a bit since giving birth to her son Blake — he was born Oct. 19, and Goldhahn still made an appearance at CSM’s game two days later — the two have struck a good balance.

“I think the nice thing about Katie and myself is we are identical in the way that we run things,” Rathman said. “Both in the volleyball sense, and we’re friends outside of this where we’re just very similar in personality. So, I think that’s why we work so well as a coaching duo. … It seems like it hasn’t skipped a beat.”

Now, the Bulldogs will look to make history as the team has never reached the state tournament, featuring the state’s top eight finishers — four from Nor Cal and four from Southern California.

“Our goal is to make it to state — of course win state,” Pakola said. “But one thing we always tell everyone on the team is that the road to state comes through CSM. And that’s something that we live off of and play off of. So, it keeps us up and heading in the right direction.”