BY STEPHEN LYNCH
ARVIN—Carolina Buelna has been a part of some good teams throughout her long stint as the starting setter for Arvin High School.
Now, after three straight 20-win seasons but limited playoff success, the senior is trying to help the Bears accomplish something great this year. That’s win a section championship.
Buelna and her Arvin teammates demonstrated on Thursday night why that lofty goal has a reasonable chance of becoming a reality later this year.
Buelna masterfully directed the Bears offensive attack during an impressive 25-14, 25-12, 25-21 sweep of visiting Shafter.
Arvin’s highly skilled on-court leader had a match-high 21 assists to go along with four kills and three aces.
“I think we played pretty strong as a team,” Buelna said. “I do think we could have done better. But we gave it our all tonight.”
Buelna had plenty of help in the Bears lopsided South Sequoia League victory over an overmatched but persistent Generals squad.
Esperanza Garcia tallied seven kills and two blocks for red-hot Arvin, the only team left with an undefeated SSL record.
The first-place Bears (10-5-1, 3-0 SSL) have posted a 9-2-1 record over their last dozen matches.
Last year Arvin finished second in the SSL and then lost in the first round of the D-III playoffs. The two previous years the Bears took third place in league, reaching the section quarterfinals in 2016 before suffering a first-round playoff elimination in 2017.
“They want to get a ring (win a section championship) this year,” Arvin coach Brandi Randle said. “…Our first goal though, is to win the league title.”
There were several key factors in Arvin’s quick dispatching of Shafter, which was coming off a Tuesday night sweep of McFarland.
The Bears served the ball extremely well all night, recording 14 aces. That propelled a momentum-grabbing fast start by Arvin.
“Serving is something we really work on,” Randle said. “If we can serve at 80-percent then we should be able to get the point off the ball.”
After the two teams split the first two points of the match, Anahy Perez served three consecutive aces, igniting a 6-0 Bears run.
Arvin, fueled by Buelna’s pinpoint passing, Garcia and Kimberly Luviano’s hitting prowess, and an inspired defensive effort by Gissel Perez (38 digs) kept most of its early 7-1 lead all through Game 1.
A similar confluence of actions, combined with some sloppy ball handling and imprecise hitting by Shafter (2-9-1, 1-3 SSL) caused Game 2 to be a rout.
Leading two games to none, Arvin met with more resistance in Game 3, but eventually outlasted the Generals to earn their eighth sweep of the season.
“It’s a big win because last year we went to playoffs, but we lost in the first round,” Garcia said. “Hopefully we get farther than last year.”
Alleigh Hanner led the Generals in kills with six. The junior middle blocker helped keep the third set competitive by notching back-to-back kills that spurred a 6-1 Shafter run and cut Arvin’s lead to 11-8.
Playing the third set with a lineup of mostly substitutes, the Bears never let the Generals get closer than two points (18-16) of the lead.
Backup setter Maai Lozano went on to score the game and match-clinching point with two-hand push shot toward the far back corner of the court, that glanced off a Shafter player’s hand before landing out of bounds.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” Shafter coach Sabrina Macias said. “I’m not going to discredit Arvin. Arvin has a good team. They’re scrappy. You can see their passion out on the court. Brandi does a great job with them. But we had too many mis-serves. A lack of communication. Things like that. We just need to refine and refresh. Get back at it next week.”
Photos by Henry Barrios
