Volleyball fans got their moneys worth Thursday night in El Dorado Hills.

In the semi-final round of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, the Oak Ridge Trojans advanced past the Del Oro Golden Eagles in four games 21-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-23.

In their second meeting of the year the Trojans rallied down one game to take the next three. Mistakes were helping the Eagles in their one game win as Trojan hitter Jonathon Tuttle struggled to get going offensively.

The Trojans, however, weren’t held down for very long and got contributions from around the roster.

Tuttle was responsible for eight kills in a resurgent second game that gave his team the momentum back.

In the second game the Trojans began on a 3-0 lead and wouldn’t give it up save for a tie at 16-16. Tuttle had four of his team’s final nine points on kills.

Even at one game each leadership for Oak Ridge came appropriately from their only senior, Sean Bassemier.

Fighting Del Oro for a lead early, the Trojans weathered five ties and two lead changes through a 7-7 score before Bassemier and freshman Storm Van Soldt broke it up permanently.

Van Soldt followed one of his senior captain’s kills with back-to-back aces for the 10-7 advantage. The Trojans went up by three before Tuttle blasted a kill and added a huge block for the 23-16 lead.

With the momentum in full swing the Trojans’ way, Del Oro made the fourth game an exciting adrenaline pumped dual.

“After that first game we weren’t focusing, but come the second and third our intensity picked up and it carried us through to the end,” said Van Soldt.

The talented freshman should speak on momentum considering his match-winning kill that advanced his team a game further into playoffs.

A long kill from mid-court off the hand of Van Soldt was the nail in Del Oro’s coffin. The underclassman was met by his team and an excited coach in Tom Van Der Wende.

“Our last timeout was a matter of being scrappy, scrappier than we’ve been all night long. We just couldn’t let the ball hit the floor,” said Van Der Wende.

The Trojans had to take a timeout up 23-20 as the Eagles forced six ties and six lead changes trying to take it to a fifth game.

“It was a pretty exciting night and we knew it was going to be a tough one,” said Van Der Wende. “We thought it might go to five games and it could go either way and Del Oro has a lot of weapons.”

Providing a much-needed spark at times in the final two games especially, Bassemier did all his team needed to win.

“The block on their side was getting out really slow to me so it was easy to go up and hit the ball on the court,” said Bassemier. “I talked to my team late in the fourth game and told them to settle down and just play on the next point. We’ve come a long way and this team is really playing well together.”

It was the matter of a ruler that prevented a fifth game as the Eagles fell literally inches short of keeping the Trojans at bay.

Junior outside hitter Brody Cord put his skills on display throughout the match. Against the wall that was Tuttle, Cord blasted kill after kill through giving his team spurts of three or four points.

Del Oro coach Bret Moore saw outstanding athletic drive from his team against one of the area’s best. He said considering Del Oro won six games last season, that his squad really showcased some bold talent all season.

“Other than moving some guys around on the net, all we could do was put up a block and hope to dig it,” said Moore. “We didn’t have a whole lot of height against guys like Tuttle out there. However, the boy that was blocking him all night, Jordan Broyles, is a sophomore and he’s only been up for two varsity matches. I’m looking forward to this team next year because everybody’s going to beat each other up in league and it’s gong to be last man standing.”

Oak Ridge, for now, remains one of the last teams standing in sections. Living to see another day, the Trojans will face their third SFL team in three games Tuesday at Jesuit High versus the Rocklin Thunder (9-0 league, 31-7 overall).

The two teams have not met yet this year but Van Der Wende said he will prepare his team for what he is sure will be a knock down, drag out match for the ages.