GIRLS VOLLEYBALL – Dobmeier, Weston pace Valley Christian to sweep, rare victory over St. Joseph

Valley Christian High senior middle hitter Jordan Weston powers down a kill past Ainsley Reimer of St. Joseph High last Thursday in V.C.’s 25-11, 25-9, 25-14 victory. Weston had seven kills. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN .

August 25, 2025

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

The players of the Valley Christian High girls volleyball team was quick to remind each other that they had never defeated St. Joseph High, a school roughly one and half miles away. But the dominance by St. Joseph goes back much farther than the six seniors, six juniors and one sophomore can remember.

The Defenders snapped an eight-match skid to the Jesters by doing something no V.C. team had done in the 2000s against their nearby rivals-record a sweep. Backed by 19 kills, three aces and two blocks from junior outside hitter Tessa Dobmeier, who recently committed to Liberty University, and seven kills along with six blocks from senior middle hitter Jordan Weston, the Defenders cruised past St. Joseph 25-11, 25-9, 25-14 last Thursday night.

V.C. fell to the Jesters in four sets in last season’s opener before winning six straight matches on its way to a remarkable 21-6 season. Last Thursday’s win pushed the Defenders to 7-1. To go one step further, the schools have been playing each other 22 times since 2001 and this was the V.C.’s fourth win over St. Joseph, the first since 2013.

“Our girls had a fire in their bellies to win tonight because of [the streak],” said V.C. head coach Stacy Brannon. “They knew it had been a while; they knew it had been since they started coming to our school.

“Our goal this year is if we’re getting leads to not cruise to the end,” she continued. “We have sometimes, and we’ve had to battle that, but they’ve gotten better each match. Then today was no exception; they kept the level high and never let down. They were just excited to come out in our own gym. We normally play them in the first match of the season, but we were kind of stoked that we could have a few under our belt before facing them.”

“We were really pumped and really excited,” said Dobmeier. “Beating St. Joseph is really good for us because we haven’t beaten them since I was a freshman which was really exciting and everything.”

With Valley Christian High junior outside hitter Tessa Dobmeier looking on, senior libero Devyn Masi is primed for a dig in last Thursday’s 25-11, 25-9, 25-14 win over St. Joseph High. PHOTO BY STEVE FERICEAN.

The first set was tied five times in the opening minutes before an ace from senior middle hitter Aubrey Ericks put the Defenders in front for good at 6-5. V.C. would get three more points with her serving, then put the set away as junior setter Lucy Taylor served seven consecutive points. In that scoring spree, Weston had a pair of blocks, there were two net violations called on St. Joseph and Taylor had an ace as the hosts quickly padded their lead to 17-7.

“Jordan’s blocking definitely…they didn’t know where to go,” said Brannon. “So then they had trouble, they were shooting, and we were able to dig their shots. And then when they swung, she would block them. So, I think they had to start playing a little bit scared.”

“She’s crazy; she’s a wall,” said Dobmeier of Weston. “She’s really good, and she helps us get so many points all the time with her blocking, hitting and everything.”

In the second set, Dobmeier’s fifth kill put V.C. in front to stay at 3-2. That would be followed by four straight points off the serve of senior libero Devyn Masi, which also included a block from Dobmeier. St. Joseph tried to stay within striking range, but the third kill from Weston made it 15-8 and Taylor began the second rotation by serving five consecutive points, beginning with an ace.

“Our team really is good; we have multiple players [who do] everything,” said Dobmeier of the experience. “We’re set to go, and we’re all really comfortable with each other, which is really good with our chemistry.”

Dobmeier and Weston came out on fire in the third set, combining for two kills and a block, plus an ace from junior outside hitter Jenna Van Kampen. A minute later, and with the score 4-2, Dobmeier had three straight kills. The Jesters got to within a pair of points, but Dobmeier made sure her team would stay in the lead with three kills and a block and a kill from Ericks.

The Jesters once again got to within two points at 12-10 before Dobmeier had a kill, then an ace followed by a net violation and the fourth kill from senior opposite hitter Aniyah Peoples.

Moments later, the set, and match would be put away as Dobmeier put down her last kill, Weston notched her final block and Ericks served three straight aces to give V.C. a 21-12 advantage.

“Tessa, her and Devyn never come out, and she’s been playing…we’ve had a long streak here,” said Brannon. “We’ve had no breaks because we had a tournament last weekend. So, the wear and tear on her body is the most because she’s the only one that stays in the whole time, and she battles through it.”

Junior opposite hitter Brooklyn Warner had five kills while on the serving side of things, the Defenders collected 18 aces from half a dozen players, led by Ericks and Taylor who each had five.

After facing St. Anthony High and California this past week, the Defenders will head to San Diego to square off against Scripps Ranch High on Friday and Christian High on Saturday. Dobmeier’s cousin plays for Christian, located in the East County community of El Cajon. When V.C. comes back from America’s Finest City, it will travel to La Serna High on Tuesday.

“Everything’s kind of unique,” said Brannon. “We have the San Diego trip, that we’ve never done before. So we can look forward to that. Then we have Village Christian at home [on Sept. 11] for our league opener, so we have that to look forward as well. That’s our next hurdle. Then we have to play Village again at the end of the year and then we have CIF [playoffs]. It’s not like we’re going to be stagnant; we’re going to have these little goals to meet as the season goes instead of just cruising.”