Buff Puff was a hit and the varsity vs. alumni game was ultra-competitive, the Lady Cougar alum squad pushing this year’s varsity girls to three sets before yielding a win to the reigning Section champions.
The fun evening of competition was staged at Escalon High School on Friday night, May 12 and featured three different Buff Puff contests prior to the varsity-alumni action.
In the opener, it was the freshmen taking on the seniors and the youngest Cougar boys gave the soon-to-be graduates a hard time, forcing them to three sets. But the senior boys, with a little bit more experience under their belts from having participated in Buff Puff before, were able to take the tie-breaker and advance to the championship game.
Then it was the sophomores and juniors matching up and, again, the match was back and forth, each team winning one before the juniors were able to nail down the win in the third set.
In the championship battle, the seniors took a 25-18 win over the juniors in the first set, then won by a 25-20 margin in the second set, on a jump serve by Logan Anderson for an ace on match point. That set off the celebration for the seniors, sweeping to the championship, 2-0, and getting some redemption. As juniors last year, they lost to the-then sophomores. This year, as juniors and seniors, they returned the favor.
“It feels great to be a part of this win because we got redemption,” said Anderson, who bowed to the pressure of the crowd and fired off that jump serve. “We only practiced about four times but a lot of it was just about being together as a team, having fun. We might not have shown as much energy at times but it was because we were locked in, we know we can’t celebrate until the job is done and that’s what we did.”
Teammate Ryker Peters brought out the broom once the final point fell, saluting the juniors.
Senior Andy Alpizar played soccer for the Cougars and said volleyball is like it in some ways.
“A lot of movement, staying on your toes,” he said of the similarities. “I just wanted to have fun, senior year, and winning is good.”
Volleyball alumni players suiting up for the marquee match up of the night were Shaylynn Beam, Bella Cormack, Nicole Bianchi, Leah Wheeler, Brooke (Silva) May, Hannah Murphy, Mandy Murphy, Haylee Barajas, Stephanie (Williamson) Ceja, Emily Middleton and Jenna (Martin) Rodriguez.
Varsity girls taking part were Mallory Berhorst, Emily Vickers, Gianna Bava, Claire Barkus, Carsyn Hood, Lisa Murga, Rylie Lattig, Macie Vickers, Kendra Gwartney, Faye Hernandez and Sophia Martin. Longtime head coach Teresa Williamson led her varsity girls in the contest, while Beam – who was the JV coach last year and will move in to the varsity role for the fall – coached the alumni.
It was the alumni taking the first set, 25-23, winning it on a Jenna Rodriguez serve on match point. The varsity regrouped for a 25-13 win in the second set to advance it to the tiebreaker, a winner-take-all third set.
In a match that went back and forth, a nailbiter all the way, the varsity was able to prevail with an 18-16 decision.
“It’s one of my favorites because it’s past players that I coached and as you can see, it’s like a Cougar tradition; whether it’s football or volleyball, we want to win, it’s do or die, they sacrificed their body, over there on the alumni side and on our side, so it’s always been a competitive match,” Williamson said.
The fact that alumni, as well as the varsity, are willing to dig, dive and go all out makes for an exciting game for the crowd to watch, the coaches to coach and the players to play.
“Every year we can never take it for granted that we are going to win … because we have lost in the past,” Williamson admitted. “All these girls, they (alumni) all stay fit, they’re very competitive, they all have a heart and they want to win.”
And regardless of the score and the outcome at the end of the night, the EHS athletes came away the winners, as proceeds from the Buff Puff and Alumni-Varsity game benefit the volleyball program.
