With a final Trans-Valley League game on the road, Escalon’s varsity volleyball girls came away with a hard-fought win at Hilmar on Oct. 18.
The Wednesday night contest went to five sets, said head coach Shay Beam.
“The first time we played Hilmar it was a close game but we got it done with three,” Beam explained. “Hilmar came ready to fight. It was a battle every set but we ended up on top in set five.”
Escalon fell behind by losing the first set, tied it up, took the lead, saw Hilmar knot it at two sets apiece, and then final squeaked out the 2-point win in the fifth and deciding set.
Scores were 23-25, 28-26, 25-19, 20-25, 15-13.
“At the end of five sets our offense was tired but they did good work,” Beam said. “Leading the pack was Sophia Martin with 14 kills and Lisa Murga with 13 kills. Chloe Fraser also had seven kills, Peyton Houser Keaton and Claire Barkus each had six kills.”
The coach also gave a shout out to the blockers, who she said “did a great job defending the net” during the contest.
Murga had six blocks, Barkus had three, Martin and Fraser each had two blocks.
“Of course, our hitters couldn’t do it alone, Karisa McNeil had 24 assists, Aniston Hunt had 13, and Macie Vickers even snuck in with five assists,” noted Beam. “A match to five means many opportunities for digs. Macie Vickers played one of her best games of the season, picking up 29 digs for the team. Karisa McNeil had 26 digs and Kendra Gwartney contributed 11 digs.”
The girls, second in the TVL, earned the number four seed in the Division 3 playoffs and were scheduled to host Lathrop on Tuesday, Oct. 24 after The Times went to press. A win there would see them play at home again on Thursday, Oct. 26, facing the winner of the Oakdale-Beyer opening round match.
JV
In three sets on Oct. 18, the JV volleyball girls fell to host Hilmar in a tightly contested league match, 21-25, 25-21, 13-15.
“Lesley Cardenas had four aces and seven assists, Gracie Airola had four kills,” said head coach Alyssa Cogburn.
Chloe Green had two blocks on the night and Madi Babasa had eight digs.
“The girls improved so much over the season and I am so proud of everything they accomplished,” Cogburn added. “We are so proud of our Chloe Green, who has been moved up to join the varsity team for playoffs.”
Freshmen
The youngest Lady Cougars lost in straight sets to Hilmar on Wednesday, falling 23-25, 17-25.
“Not exactly the outcome we wanted to end the season with, but our final huddle was focused on our overall growth this whole season and big emphasis on the fact that although we finished with a loss there was so much growth individually and as a team this season,” said head coach Morgan Gomez.
In the contest, Brynn Caton had two aces, Samari Webster had six assists, Violet DaSilva added three kills and Arianna Velasco had seven digs.
“We are really excited to see them all come back next season and continue that growth and maintain that positive attitude and outlook,” Gomez said.
