Battling to five sets in each of their games this past week, the varsity Escalon Lady Cougars won one and lost one in preseason volleyball play.

They hosted Amador for their first home game on Aug. 27 and fought for the victory.

“We took the match to five, winning by only two points,” said head coach Shay Beam.

Scores were 25-22, 24-26, 25-16, 22-25 and 18-16.

“Against Amador a few of our hitters had some good plays,” said Beam “Chloe Fraser had 15 kills, Lisa Murga had 17 kills while Claire Barkus had six kills and Ashlee Conde and Emma Strong both had five kills.”

Thursday, the girls were on the road at Merced High and played another five-set match, but this time fell in the fifth and deciding set. Scores were 28-30, 25-14, 24-26, 25-21, 12-15.

“It was a long night,” admitted Beam. “We saw improvement against Merced but in the end, we couldn’t put it away. We struggled at the service line during both matches this week.”

At Merced, strong efforts came from Barkus with 10 kills, Murga had nine, Fraser had seven and setter Karisa McNeil had seven kills as well.

This week, the girls were to travel to Enochs on Sept. 3; then have back-to-back home matches, Wednesday, Sept. 4 hosting Oakdale, Thursday, Sept. 5 hosting Gregori before starting Trans-Valley League play at home on Tuesday, Sept. 10 as they welcome Sonora.

The JV and freshman squads, meanwhile, won both their matches this past week.