Continuing their preseason excellence, Escalon’s varsity volleyball girls put three wins on the books this past week. They shut out both Orestimba and Enochs, 3-0, and edged past Ripon Christian, 3-1.
“It was a long and successful week,” head coach Teresa Williamson said of the trio of contests. “Everyone is contributing to our wins. Each player is doing their part and dominating in their position.”
Against Ripon Christian, the final was 3-1 in Escalon’s favor with scores of 2-25, 25-23, 25-27, 25-14.
“Ripon Christian was our match of the week,” Williamson said. “Two great teams battling it out ‘til the end.”
Rylie Lattig had 41 assists, 3 blocks while Emily Vickers notched 19 kills, 20 digs. Also playing well were Gianna Bava 15 kills, 2 aces; Carsyn Hood 8 kills; Sophia Martin 5 kills, 4 digs; Lisa Murga 4 blocks; Faye Hernandez 27 digs, 2 aces; Macie Vickers 12 digs.
Scores in the 3-0 win over Enochs were 25-19, 25-10, 25-13. Leaders were Lattig 27 assists, 4 aces; Emily Vickers 14 kills, 6 aces, 15 digs; Bava 7 kills, 3 aces; Claire Barkus, Mallory Berhorst, Carsyn Hood, all with 1 block each and Faye Hernandez 12 digs.
Escalon took down Orestimba in three, 25-9, 25-19, 25-13. Familiar names topped the leaderboard, with Lattig notching 41 assists, 2 aces, 1 block, 10 digs; Emily Vickers 19 kills, 4 Aces, 14 digs; Bava 8 kills, 2 blocks; Hood 8 kills, 2 aces; Hernandez and Macie Vickers 7 digs each; Madison Smith 2 kills; Barkus 3 blocks; Berhorst and Murga 2 blocks each.
“We are on the road Tuesday to face Hilmar in our first league match,” Williamson said, with that contest set for Sept. 6, after The Times went to press. The freshmen, JV and varsity all start the Trans-Valley League campaign with the road game.
Varsity only is scheduled at home Wednesday, Sept. 7 against Modesto Christian with a 6 p.m. start and all three teams head to Oakdale for non-league play Thursday, Sept. 8 with games at 4 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
JV
Starting play against Ripon Christian on Tuesday, Aug. 30, the JV Lady Cougars once again fought tough but fell short, losing in three sets.
“They’re a good team and they challenge us,” said coach Shay Beam. “I wish we could have come out on top.”
Scores were 25-15, 22-25, 13-15.
Madyson Herrera had eight aces and nine kills, she and libero Natalie Giuntoli each had eight digs. Karisa McNeil had 23 assists and Marissa Terry added a block.
“Wednesday we traveled to Modesto to play Enochs,” Beam said, with her team dropping the first set 23-25. “We made some mistakes but rallied back in game two to win 25-11. I had hoped we would go into game three with momentum from the last set but we made too many mistakes early on and lost 13-15.”
Chloe Fraser had four kills and seven digs while Herrera added seven kills and four digs. McNeil contributed 17 assists.
Thursday, they closed out the busy week on the road with a match at Orestimba.
“We came out slow and lost the first set 23-25 but we cleaned it up in game two and three winning 25-18 and 15-6,” Beam said of getting the victory.
Herrera had 12 kills, four aces and eight digs; McNeil 14 assists, six digs and two kills; Fraser seven kills.
“After a long week on the road I’m holding we can go into league with a hunger to compete and work hard,” Beam said.
