On a night when they took a loss, there was still reason to celebrate for Escalon’s varsity volleyball team.
The squad had its regular season final home game on Tuesday, Oct. 22 and special recognition was offered to this year’s seniors. They were presented with flowers and honored with their family members at center court prior to the match with Ripon.
Seniors feted were, in alphabetical order, Claire Barkus, Ashlee Conde, Chloe Fraser, Madyson Herrera, Karisa McNeil, Lisa Murga, Riley Ogilvie.
“We had a lot of energy going into the match and almost took the first set off Ripon but we couldn’t clinch it,” said head coach Shay Beam. “We lost in three sets 23-25, 15-25, and 20-25.”
Beam described Ripon as a “good team with a very quick offense” and said while her team played hard, especially in sets one and three, they still couldn’t quite get past their Lady Indian opponents.
“Thursday, we traveled to Orestimba for our last league match,” Beam added. “Unfortunately, we didn’t bring our best; volleyball is a game of errors and we made too many Thursday night.”
The Escalon varsity girls lost the Oct. 24 match in four sets, 25-12, 16-25, 21-25, 17-25.
“Going into playoffs we will continue to work on serve receive and staying consistent,” Beam said.
Escalon closed out the regular season with an 11-12 overall mark, 3-9 in Trans-Valley League play.
JV/Freshmen
The season has wrapped up for the junior varsity team, and head coach Alyssa Cogburn said the team showed good progress this year, closing out the campaign with a split of their last two league contests.
They lost to Ripon on Tuesday, 21-25, 16-25.
“Brynn Caton was the star of the stat sheet with two aces, six kills, eight digs and a block,” Cogburn said.
Thursday, the girls rebounded with a win over Orestimba in three, going on the road to win 25-19, 20-25, 15-8.
Caton again stood out, notching three aces, six kills and six digs.
The JV girls finished at 6-6 in Trans-Valley League play and went 12-11 overall.
It was a pair of wins for the youngest Lady Cougars, as the freshmen beat Ripon at home, 25-11 and 26-24, outlasting their opponent in the second set. They went on the road to defeat Orestimba, 25-11, 25-19.
“Those were our last two games of the season and I couldn’t have asked for a better end,” said coach Kaitlyn Herrera. “We ended our season with a 19-5 total record and with a 9-3 record in league.”
