Action continued in the Trans-Valley League this past week for several Lady Cougar teams. Volleyball, flag football and golf were all busy, with the regular season winding down. Here is a recap of the contests.

VOLLEYBALL

On the road for their one game this past week, the Escalon varsity volleyball girls ended up falling to host Hughson by a 3-0 final; 23-25, 23-25, 14-25.

“Hughson is the number one team in Division 4 for a reason,” said Escalon varsity head coach Stephanie Ceja. “They are super talented and well rounded.”

For the match, Avery Bartelink had two aces, seven kills, one block and nine digs; Brynn Caton added one ace and 11 digs. Aniston Hunt had one ace, 22 assists, seven digs; Haven MacKinnon had one ace and one block. Ari Paulsen added eight kills and one block; Emma Strong had eight kills and 14 digs.

“Our girls fought their hearts out, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to pull out a win,” Ceja said.

The varsity girls were to have their Senior Night recognition program in the final home game of the regular season on Oct. 20, and will close out the TVL schedule on the road at Sonora on Thursday, Oct. 22.

JV/Freshmen

Hughson proved to be a tough opponent for the JV girls, as they fell in three, the Escalon squad losing in a close, competitive match, 23-25, 25-16, 14-16.

“Ryan Killingsworth had 15 digs, Aubrey Anderson-Castro had 20 assists,” said JV head coach Alyssa Cogburn. “Lainie Harris had eight kills.”

At the freshman level, the Escalon girls came away with a straight sets win over Hughson, 27-25, 25-9.

“Brooklyn Karp had five aces, four digs, six assists and two kills,” frosh head coach Mya Scott said.

Also contributing in a big way were Makayla Lopez with six digs, one kill and one ace; KaLee Bailey-Donis with three aces and three kills.

FLAG FOOTBALL

Taking a pair of shutout losses, Escalon’s varsity flag football girls fell to visiting Sonora on Tuesday, Oct. 13 and then went on the road for a Thursday, Oct. 15 game, losing at Hilmar.

Sonora walked off with a 27-0 decision in the game at Escalon while the score was nearly identical two days later, as the home team Lady Yellowjackets shut down Escalon by a 28-0 final.

The varsity girls will be home for their final game of the season on Oct. 22, hosting Hughson at 4:30 p.m.

The JV girls were on the field for just one game this past week, as they traveled to Hilmar and took a 15-6 win off the field.

“We started off a little slow on offense, but eventually got it going,” said JV head coach Lisa Luis.

Hadley Casazza ran for a 30-yard touchdown to get the scoring started and Lauryn Siegel connected with Madilin Teixeira for the 1-point conversion.

“We played well on the defensive side of the ball,” Luis added. “Madilin Teixeira had two interceptions, one of them she returned for a touchdown.”

Kyla Holback found Siegel, who pitched it to Casazza for the 2-point conversion to help lift the JV girls to the win.

“Evelyn Castaneda and Abigail Perreira played well on defense,” said Luis. “Abi broke up several passes and Evelyn had a sack and a couple tackles for loss.”

The JV girls are scheduled to take the field at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22 to host Hughson in the season finale.

GOLF

On Oct. 14, the Lady Cougars traveled to Turlock Golf and Country Club for an away match against Hilmar in varsity action.

“It was the final regular season head-to-head match of the year,” said varsity head coach Chris Casazza. “Hilmar is a strong team with two very strong players leading the team. Hilmar has been battling Ripon for the top spot in the TVL.”

The match went in favor of the host Lady Yellowjackets, carding a 191-233 win.

“Turlock Golf and Country Club is a challenging course for our team in that it has some length,” Casazza said. “It is a beautiful course and our girls were happy to play it.”

Leading the way was Areli Herrera with a 55, and Samantha Bruns was second at 57.

“Areli had an excellent round, one of her best on a long course,” Casazza explained. “Samantha Bruns was her usual consistent self with a solid 57. Kristina Mendoza wasn’t far behind with a 60.”

Jayci Trimble also added to the scoring with a 61.

Playing but not counted in the scoring were Sofia Da Silva, 72; and Lori Brown, 78.

Thursday, Oct. 15, the Escalon JV girls traveled to Ripon Golf Club to match up against Ripon JV in their last match of the season.

“This year we were able to put together eight matches for our JV group. This is significant because there isn’t a sanctioned TVL Girls JV league,” Casazza said.

Adding that “it takes a lot of legwork, phone calls, and emails” to get the JV matches together, including finding schools with enough golfers to have a JV squad, Casazza said it is a help to the program in the long run.

“It means we are able to get some course time and match experience for girls who are working toward the varsity team in future years,” the coach said. “It gives them a leg up when the time comes.”

He went on to point out the work done by assistant coach Ricardo Herrera as being integral in helping the JV golfers to improve.

“He is a huge reason we were able to have so many matches for our JV squad,” Casazza said.

Scores carded by the JV girls on the Ripon course were: Brisa Patino, 54; Marissa Miller, 57; Alexis Tovar, 58; Lucy Boles, 67; Natalie Paxman and Daisy Lozano, each coming in at 69.