Sobrato is in need of a win Thursday night after falling in five games to Pioneer on Oct. 20.
After a nail bitter of a first set, Pioneer eventually pulled out the win 30-32, 25-19, 12-25, 25-23, 15-11.
The Bulldogs fell into a tie with the Mustangs with two losses a piece. And with both teams pulling out wins on Tuesday, the match up with Live Oak becomes crucial as Sobrato attempts to keep pressure on Pioneer and possibly earn an automatic berth into the CCS playoffs.
Sobrato defeated Santa Teresa in three games 25-13, 25-9, 25-17.
Pioneer needs to beat Lincoln Thursday night to clinch the automatic berth regardless of what Sobrato does because of tiebreaker rules.
Though the two teams split their regular season matchup—with both winning on the road—Pioneer earned the tiebreak because it won in the second half of league play.
Kesley Gunsky had 13 kills, four blocks and four aces for Sobrato against Pioneer while Kacey Suess added 12 blocks with two aces and three kills.
For Pioneer Carrissa MacDonald had 15 kills with Joelle Dueck recording 10 kills and nine blocks.
The match was befitting a first place bout with both teams clawing their way to wins, overcoming momentum of their opponent and having some heart-stopping plays.
From the first game, the two teams needed extra frames to settle things after Sobrato couldn’t hang on to a late lead, seeing Pioneer going on a 12-6 run to eventually take a 21-20 lead.
But Sobrato, behind kills from Suess and Gunsky, took a 23-21 lead.
Pioneer went on a 3-0 run to serve set point when Sobrato went on a two-point run to avoid an early loss and take a 25-24 lead.
The two teams ping-ponged until Pioneer led 30-29. Then, Ellie Downing had a kill to tie the game and eventually had the winner following a kill from Gunsky.
The momentum from that game didn’t hold as Pioneer went on an 11-1 run in the begging of the second set to take a 15-7 lead and didn’t give it up.
Though Sobrato had a 6-0 run to pull within two behind the serving of Siena Schilling, it wasn’t enough as Pioneer outlasted the Bulldogs for a 25-19 win.
But just as quickly as the Bulldogs had lost momentum from Game 1, Pioneer lost it in Game 3.
Sobrato muscled its way to a 12-3 lead behind serving from Stephanie Cloughesy and Schilling with three blocks from Suess.
Suess also had a run of five service points late in the match to go up 19-7 before Gunsky slammed the door with five service points and two aces.
As Sobrato looked to close the door in Game 4, Pioneer found its second wind, eventually taking a 16-9 lead.
And despite the great attacking from Cloughesy, who had three kills in a six-point stretch, the Bulldogs couldn’t overcome the gap.
They eventually tied the game at 20-all and again at 23-all on aces from Schilling and kills from Downing and Gunsky, but Pioneer took advantage of two Sobrato errors to close out the game.
In the fifth, there was to be no late magic for the Bulldogs, who fell behind 10-4 and couldn’t make up the ground.
Sobrato got to within 13-11 on a kill from Gunsky and a block from Cloughesy, but an error and a Pioneer ace ended things there.
Sobrato takes on rival Live Oak hoping to avenge a loss to the Acorns earlier this season at Live Oak. From there, Sobrato will await its playoff fate when brackets are released on Saturday.
If the Bulldogs get in, they would likely play on Wednesday on the road depending on the outcome of Pioneer/Lincoln.
