Sierra sports returns for abbreviated spring season

Sports have officially returned at Sierra College. Saturday saw two Sierra programs take to the field and sand as baseball and beach volleyball each played doubleheaders to re-engage in competition after nearly 13 months. Both programs were off to hot starts in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly halted athletic competition across the country last March. Wolverine baseball was 16-4 at the time of the shutdown while beach volleyball began 7-1 and was looking to defend back-to-back Big 8 Conference championships. After the difficult decision to cancel its traditional fall and winter sports amid the ongoing pandemic, Sierra opted into an abbreviated season for seven spring sports in late February. Finally able to return to play, Sierra volleyball coach Alanna Whitnack admitted to being "a little emotional." "It's been a long year," Whitnack said. "(The biggest challenge was) just trying to keep people motivated to stay around with all the uncertainty. We're dealing with a group of students that oftentimes have to work jobs, be full-time students and then play volleyball. It's not like they have scholarships and they're just here to play volleyball." But Whitnack's team made an early commitment to this season, regardless if there would be one or not. "We have an incredible group of kids that decided that they were going to stick with it no matter what happens," Whitnack said. "They've sacrificed a lot. When we finally got out there, we were like kids in a candy store." Saturday at Feather River, the California Community College Athletic Association's 2019 indoor state champion, Sierra took two 3-2 victories to start the season at 2-0. In the opening match, Sierra earned wins from its Nos. 2, 3 and 4 teams. Abby Schimmel and Kaleya Sanchez won 21-19, 21-18; Bekah McGill and Sierra Kimm earned a 21-17, 28-26 win and Lexi Verreault and Colfax graduate Hailee Mulic won 21-15, 21-17. The McGill/Kimm (21-11, 21-16) and Verreault/Mulic (21-13, 21-7) tandems were victorious again in the second match of the doubleheader while Ashley Almond and Hannah Platt teamed at the No. 2 position to win 21-17, 21-16. "We were all nervous because we only had two weeks of full practices," Whitnack said. "We have some gritty kids. That wasn't a surprise, considering they stuck with this for a year. They're really gritty and, for the most part, stuck to the game plan. When you add those to a beach environment, you're gonna be fairly successful." Rob Willson's baseball team earned a doubleheader sweep at Solano College on Saturday, beginning with a 4-3 win. Sierra took a 2-0 lead in the third on a single from Brandon Motheral (4-for-4). Ryan Gil tossed five innings, allowing just two hits and no earned runs with nine strikeouts before Solano tied the score 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh. Zack Jensen hit a two-run homer in the eighth to plate the go-ahead runs and earn Drew Aguiar a win in relief. Later in the day, Sierra trailed 4-3 entering the sixth inning, when RBI singles from Kota Suzuki and Motheral scored three runs. Isaiah Terrazas, who tripled earlier in the game, added an insurance run with a single in the seventh to hoist Sierra to an 8-5 win. The top three in the order (Suzuki, Terrazas and Motheral) went a combined 7-for-10 with five RBIs for Sierra, which received 4 1/3 innings of one-hit ball and eight strikeouts from Del Oro alum Jakob Frederick. Several other local products align Sierra's roster, including Del Oro's Blake Rainey and Richard Meyers, Antelope's Ryan Wetteland and Reece Stant, Oakmont's Alec Gums, Granite Bay's Braeden Holliday and Woodcreek's Cameron Carr. Sierra's home opener is scheduled for Wednesday, which will begin a three-game series continuing on Friday against Marin.