Completing the first half of the Trans-Valley League schedule, Escalon’s varsity volleyball girls have played to the top of the standings, going 6-0 through the first round.
Entering this week, the varsity squad was 18-0 overall and was scheduled to play Downey in non-league action Tuesday, Sept. 27 and open the second half of league on Wednesday, Sept. 28, hosting Hilmar.
In action to close out the first half, the girls were 3-0 winners against both Livingston and Hughson.
Against Livingston, scores were 25-13, 25-9, 25-16.
“We were not on our top game for this match, however, the girls pulled out the win in three,” explained varsity head coach Teresa Williamson. “We are going to have off days; however, we need to stay on our high game, not play complacent to prepare ourselves for playoffs.”
Rylie Lattig paced the effort with 27 assists, seven digs, five aces; Emily Vickers had 14 kills, nine digs, five aces. Gianna Bava contributed six kills and Carsyn Hood had four kills.
It was another sweep but again, a competitive match, as Escalon took on the Lady Huskies of Hughson. The scores were 25-19, 25-14, 25-22.
Lattig had 31 assists and eight digs in the Sept. 21 contest, with 10 kills, eight digs and six aces from Emily Vickers. Bava had six kills and three blocks; Hood had eight kills and three digs. Lisa Murga added five kills and three blocks on the night, with 10 digs from Faye Hernandez and nine from Macie Vickers.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Trans-Valley League play and a Saturday tournament kept the JV girls busy this week and they also saw some success.
They traveled to Livingston for a match and took it in two, 25-7, 25-15.
“Our serving and hitting continues to get stronger and more consistent,” noted head coach Shay Beam.
Ashlee Conde had four aces, freshman Marina Franzia had five aces and two kills, as did freshman Marissa Terry. Madyson Herrera had seven kills and Chloe Fraser had six kills. Setter Karisa McNeil had 18 assists.
“Wednesday we played Hughson and we had another strong showing against the Huskies,” Beam said of the win. “Natalie Giuntoli had seven aces and three digs. Chloe Fraser had four kills and three digs.”
Notching seven kills and two aces was Herrera, with two blocks on the night coming from both Conde and Terry.
“We rounded off the week with the Stockton Classic Tournament,” said the coach. “Starting off in pool play, we played Orestimba, beating them in three sets, 25-13, 19-25, and 15-9.”
The girls then took on Galt and handled them 25-19, 25-4.
“We went straight into bracket play after that,” Beam said. “We got off to a slow start to Linden and lost the first set 15-25. We were fired up the second set and played hard, winning 25-12.”
That set up the third and deciding set, where the JV Lady Cougars started out slow and got into a hole.
“Game three is not the game to start slow in,” noted Beam. “We lost 8-15, then playing for third place, we were matched up against West Campus.”
Th JV girls got the win in two, 25-12, 25-22, to secure third place honors in the tourney.
“I’m proud of how our girls played,” Beam summarized, “I know they had fun and worked hard.”
FRESHMEN
On the road at Livingston, it was a sweep for the youngest Lady Cougars, the freshmen winning 25-4, 25-11.
“The girls had really positive attitudes going in and we had amazing control of the game,” said head coach Morgan Gomez. “In game one Madison Babasa served 15 serves consecutively with four aces. Lesley Cardenas had amazing sets the whole match with eight assists and one kill.”
Outside hitter Gracie Airola had five kills in the contest.
Wednesday action, Sept. 21 saw the girls take on Hughson and get the victory in straight sets, 25-22, 25-16.
“It was slow going in the first game when we were down by about eight points but after our time out there was a huge momentum shift and the girls just didn’t give up on each other, or the win,” Gomez said.
Cardenas had 11 assists; Chloe Green added seven kills and Babasa had 10 digs.
