A Friday night match against a tough Enochs squad saw Escalon’s varsity volleyball girls fall in four games, but head coach Kayla Kootstra was pleased with the effort.

After getting on the court for some Saturday scrimmages on Aug. 22 and then practice sessions, the girls were able to line up against an opponent in match play on Friday night. They welcomed Enochs to town for the non-league competition on Aug. 28. Enochs took the win by a final of 25-20, 26-20, 26-28, 25-21.

“We played with them at the beginning, but in all four games had a lapse in the middle, then pushed back at the end,” Kootstra explained. “Enochs is a very solid team all the way around.”

Top players for the Lady Cougars were Kylee Irwin-Paz with 14 kills, Cydney Keener with 19 assists, Maddie Nicholas with 23 digs and three aces, and Reily Rocha with three blocks.

“We played well,” Kootstra added. “I was proud of how the girls fought.”

For the JV girls, they went to three games and took a 2-1 loss to Enochs, while the freshman girls came out winners by a 2-0 decision.

Earlier, the varsity went for a multi-team scrimmage at Beyer High in Modesto, meeting up with Golden Valley, Oakdale and host Beyer in a series of scrimmage games on Saturday, Aug. 22.

“It’s always good to get a chance to play other teams,” Kootstra said of having the opportunity to use the scrimmage as a testing ground of sorts.

“I utilized three different line ups, I put people in different positions,” she noted.

This week, the varsity girls were scheduled to play a Foundation game at Buhach Colony on Monday, Aug. 31 and all three teams were slated to be at Pitman High in Turlock for contests on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

The volleyball girls will be at home on Thursday, Sept. 3, continuing their preseason games with action against Tracy.

“They should be very good,” Kootstra said.                                                                                               

Action starts with the freshman game at 4 p.m., JV at 5 p.m. and the varsity contest at 6 p.m.