Fresno City College volleyball completes sweep for first state title

All season, Fresno City College first-year volleyball coach Kieran Roblee preached “we just do us.”

It wasn’t any different Sunday.

The Rams trailed 23-19 in the third set, but reeled off three straight points and eventually clinched the match with a 25-20, 25-23, 26-24 victory over Los Angeles Pierce for their first state championship in school history in Woodland Hills.

“I had the confidence that we were going to shine through and take the win,” said sophomore Jenna Goldsberry, who finished with a game-high 19 kills and had 14 digs and was named most valuable player. “We have worked the whole season to overcome moments like that and it paid off.”

Said Rams sophomore Sydney Rigby: “This championship game was unreal. I was so content the entire match and had all the confidence in the world in our team’s ability to beat Pierce.”

Fresno City finished 30-1, with a school-record 23-match winning streak. The Rams also finished the season with 26 sweeps.

“The kids were focused just doing our normal stuff,” Roblee said. “We stayed in our normal routine and that helped us through. Pierce had a loud section, but for us no big deal. That never fazed us one bit.”

Rigby said it “hasn’t hit me yet that we are state champions,” but she was thrilled to celebrate a state title in her final match as a Ram.

“I am so proud of my team and we all worked our butts off for that last match,” she said. “We all agreed that this was our last match of the season, so no holding back, all in, all out, all game was the mindset.”

The Rams made it look easy over the weekend.

Kylei O’Keefe’s kill sealed the Rams’ 26-24, 25-19, 25-23 victory over Grossmont on Saturday. Earlier in the day, Fresno City set a school record with its 28th victory, breaking the 2008 team’s mark after defeating Cypress 25-20, 25-19, 25-15.

Makayla Cervantes led Fresno City with 11 kills against Grossmont.

“I knew we had the talent going in preseason,” Roblee said. “We knew the kids from past experiences and how our work ethic is going to be. That worked really well. Unbelievable.”

This story was originally published December 4, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Fresno City College volleyball completes sweep for first state title."