A pair of Trans-Valley League matches and a Saturday tournament kept Escalon’s varsity volleyball girls on the go this past week.

They opened up the action with a league contest against Orestimba on Oct. 1, going the full five sets and winning the marathon match 24-26, 12-25, 25-14, 25-16, 15-11. The squad showed grit, determination and resiliency in battling back from the 0-2 deficit to win by the 3-2 margin.

“Thursday we started round two of league, traveling to Sonora,” said head coach Shay Beam. “Our girls fought well but we lost in four sets.”

Dropping the opener 15-25, the girls came back to win the second set 25-19 but Sonora was able to win the next two, taking the match 3-1. Third set was 20-25, fourth was 17-25.

Emma Rangel had 13 digs and Lisa Murga had 11 kills. Chloe Fraser added eight kills and Emma Strong had seven while Aniston Hunt chipped in with 18 assists.

“Saturday, we played four matches and went 3-1 on the day, coming in second at our site for the Stockton Classic,” Beam explained.

The girls beat Modesto High 25-17, 25-14, with just two set wins needed to take the match in tournament play. Against Clayton Valley, they also swept to the win, 25-7, 25-16.

“Against Elk Grove we won 25-17, 25-18,” Beam said. “We played a good Atwater team in the finals and lost 20-25, 18-25.”

The girls were scheduled to host Hilmar in TVL play on Oct. 8, after The Times went to press, and welcome Hughson to the EHS gym on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 6 p.m.

JV/Freshmen

It was a win over Orestimba for the JV Lady Cougars on Oct. 1, taking the match in straight sets, 25-18, 25-13.

“Peyton Jacobs and Haven MacKinnon had two aces each,” said head coach Alyssa Cogburn.

MacKinnon, Violet DaSilva and Brynn Caton each had four kills while Jacobs had six digs and 10 assists.

“Thursday, we beat Sonora in a close match,” added Cogburn. “Scores were 25-23, 15-25, 15-10.”

Putting together another solid game was Caton, 16 digs, two aces and eight kills. Jacobs also had a massive night with 20 assists.

For the freshman girls, they were 2-0 winners over Orestimba, 25-9, 25-13 on Tuesday. On Thursday they battled hard but fell to Sonora in straight sets, 24-26, 20-25.