It was another busy week for fall teams at Escalon High School, though the unseasonably high temperatures did impact some matches for the Lady Cougar golfers. Flag football and all three levels of volleyball battled it out with opponents; following is a recap of the action.
VOLLEYBALL
Completing a solid week, Escalon’s varsity volleyball girls won all three matches they played, while the JV went 2-1 and the freshmen swept past their three opponents as well.
The squads opened up with Enochs; the freshmen got the win but the JV team lost to the Eagles. The varsity defeated Enochs in four, 25-21, 12-25, 25-17, 27-25.
“After the first set we lost our focus a little bit and fell in set two pretty bad but managed to bounce back in sets three and four,” said head coach Shay Beam. “Offensively Lisa Murga led us in kills with nine, Chloe Fraser had eight and Claire Barkus contributed five.”
Murga also had two blocks, as did Skyler Ownings. Setter Karisa McNeil had 11 digs, Emma Rangel and Mady Herrera each had 10.
Oakdale came to Escalon on Sept. 4 and all three squads got the victory.
“Being neighbors with Oakdale we had a great crowd, I think it made us a little nervous for set one, which we ended up losing. But we wanted to put up a good match for our home crowd so after losing set one we came back and won the next three sets,” said Beam.
Scores were 22-25, 27-25, 25-17, 25-8.
Fraser led the front row in kills with 13 while freshman Emma Strong had seven kills and Murga had six. Fraser added five aces, Strong had six, Murga, Aniston Hunt and McNeil had four aces each. Hunt added 26 assists and McNeil had 10.
Thursday night, closing out a busy week, the Lady Cougars welcomed Gregori and the freshmen and JV teams got victories, setting up the Escalon sweep as the varsity also came away with a hard fought five-set win.
“Gregori has some fighters on their side of the court, they hustled down every single ball and played hard until the very end,” Beam said.
Scores were 25-14, 20-25, 19-25, 25-10, 15-11.
“Sets two and three were battles that we ended up losing but I’m so proud our girls came back and took sets four and five after being down,” the coach noted. “They showed some grit on Thursday night.”
FLAG FOOTBALL
It was a double overtime loss on Tuesday to start the week for Escalon, as the varsity flag football team traveled to Tracy. After a slow start, down 12-0, they battled back and made it 12-6 at the half, then tied the score in the second half. Jessy Lynn Kessler found Peyton Merril in the end zone for the first Escalon touchdown and Ari Velasco hit senior Haley Barker for the second half touchdown.
“Our defense really turned it on and held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half,” noted coach Steve Largent. “Mia Arteaga and Reagan Baker flew around and Ari Velasco had a timely interception.”
Host Tracy still came away with the 20-12 double OT win.
“Things got very physical and testy and our girls really grew up fast and matched the intensity of the game,” Largent added. “Our second half intensity carried over into Thursday as we finally fought our way back into the win column, defeating the Manteca Buffaloes 32-26 on a hot September night.”
Largent said Velasco had a “fantastic game” at quarterback and took what the defense gave her. Jasmine Barron had three receiving touchdowns, Alondra Gonzalez had the game-changing defensive play with an interception that catapulted the Lady Cougars into taking an advantage late in the game.
This week the squad will play a double header on the road Wednesday night against San Ramon Valley High School and California High.
“We are looking forward to representing our school and brand of play over in the East Bay area,” Largent explained. “San Ramon and Cal High played one another in their respective Section title game last year so the schedule is not slowing down for us anytime in terms of competition.”
GIRLS GOLF
The golf girls went to Turlock Golf and Country Club for a Sept. 3 match with Hilmar, playing on a 98-degree day.
“Hilmar is a solid team with golfers capable of putting up some great scores,” said coach Chris Casazza. “The combination of a tough opponent and extreme weather told me it was going to be a challenging match for our girls.”
Casazza also got late word one of his team members was sick so they had only five to play; only four scores are needed. Hilmar, however, was also down a player due to illness so each team had five players on the course.
Casazza said he and Hilmar coach Ty Pettigrew stayed on the course in a golf cart, carrying ice chests full of cold bottled water for the players to insure they stayed hydrated. A Hilmar player couldn’t continue midway through the match due to the heat, so the Yellowjackets were left with just four.
After the round was finished, the teams were knotted at 238. Rose Percey paced Escalon with a 53, followed by Genevieve Casazza at 54, Taylor Bruns at 63, and Samantha Bruns at 68. Mia Fernandes played but her high round on the day did not figure in to the scoring.
To break the tie, said Casazza, team scores of a predetermined tiebreak hole – this time hole number three – were compared and Escalon put up better scores on that hole, so the Lady Cougars earned the win.
“Our girls were very excited to come away with a win over Hilmar at their home course. I was proud of them for persevering through the heat and not giving up,” Casazza said. “Last year most of our matches were close. This is the year we turn those close matches into wins.”
All the TVL matches scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 5 were canceled due to the heat and will be rescheduled at a later date.
The girls are slated to continue with TVL play at home against Ripon Christian on Thursday, Sept. 12 with a 3:30 p.m. tee off.
