East Nicolaus’ Kendall Kocher made 20 digs in the Spartans’ win over Vanden on Nov. 12 and will be one of the key returners next season.

EAST NICOLAUS, CA (MPG) - It’s not often that a team wins 28 straight games and sees it season come to an end with one loss, but that was exactly the fate suffered by the East Nicolaus volleyball team, who despite battling, fell 24-26, 17-25, 26-28 to Branham, a school with over 1,800 students, in the second round of CIF Division III State Volleyball Championships on Thursday Nov. 14.

Seeded No. 8 in Division III, the Spartans opened play by coming from a set down to beat No. 9 Vanden (Fairfield) another school more than five times its size, 23-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-23 in the first round, before making the trip to the San Jose to take on the No.1 seeded Bruins.

It was a match between two high-powered offenses, but ultimately Braham won the battle with a more efficient attack, hitting .209 to East Nic’s .164, in addition to landing 41 kills versus 34 for the Spartans.

Jadyn Hoffman averaged 21 kills for East Nicolaus in its two CIF Division III state championship matches last week.

In her final match for East Nicolaus, outside hitter Jadyn Hoffman recorded a team-high 18 kills and also made 15 digs giving her career totals of 1542 kills and 782 digs.

Addy Tagala, the other half of the Spartans’ dynamic duo over the past four years, handed out 19 assists and made 10 digs in loss, rounding out her time in Trowbridge with 2254 assists, 528 digs and 215 aces.

Sophomore libero, Ashlynn Tagala made a noteworthy contribution in the match against the Bruins as well, logging 16 digs.

Despite the loss, East Nicolaus (28-1) has no reason to hang its head after going undefeated in the regular season, claiming its fourth straight Northern Section Division V title and performing admirably in the state tournament.

Before their second-round match, the Spartans turned in a strong outing at home against Vanden, in which Hoffman hammered down 24 kills and Makinze Massey added nine more.

Facilitating the attack, Addy Tagala dished out 28 assists, while Shelby Scroggins accounted for 18.

Spartan setter Addy Tagala handed out a total of 47 assists in her final two matches for East Nicolaus.

In the back row, Ashlynn Tagala made 24 digs, Kendall Kocher finished with 20 and Hoffman had 17.

Although the Spartans will say goodbye to the duo of Hoffman and Addy Tagala, who graduate in the spring, they will return a group of experienced players who understand what it takes to win.

As a result, look for East Nicolaus to be in the hunt for yet another section title when the new season begins in August 2025.