In a busy week for the varsity volleyball Lady Cougars, they got back on the winning track in Trans-Valley League action, and also traveled to take part in the Stockton Classic Tournament on Saturday.
Head coach Stephanie Ceja was glad to see the team take down both Orestimba on the road and Ripon Christian at home. The Orestimba game was on Oct. 6, followed by the RC match on Oct. 8.
They swept past Orestimba in scores of 25-8, 25-17, 25-5.
“After losing to Hilmar, we used this match to really refocus our game,” Ceja explained.
Emma Strong had 10 kills, three aces and one block; Avery Bartelink added four kills, two aces and one block. Aniston Hunt had six aces, one block and 20 assists, and Brynn Caton had 14 digs on the night.
Thursday, it was a pivotal match with Ripon Christian and Escalon took the first set, 26-24, only to fall by two to the visitors in the second set, 23-25. Coming back with a 25-22 win in set three, Escalon rode that momentum to a 25-8 decision in set four to take the 3-1 win.
Strong had 12 kills, three aces and 12 digs; Arie Paulsen had eight kills and two blocks. Haven MacKinnon had six kills, three blocks; Hunt added five kills, three aces, 14 digs and 29 assists. Riley Titsworth had five aces and eight digs, Caton had two aces and 12 digs, with Bartelink contributing four kills, five blocks and 22 digs.
“Ripon Christian has improved tremendously since the last time we played them, so we knew we had a battle ahead of us,” said Ceja. “They have a couple of hitters that we had a hard time stopping last time, so we really focused on shutting those hitters down early. And our serving was really tough in this match which helps keep RC out of system, so they can’t feed those attackers as much.”
On Saturday, Oct. 10, the girls headed to River Islands High School in Lathrop for competition in the Stockton Classic.
“We didn’t have Emma Strong (out due to illness) so we had to mix our line up just a little bit,” Ceja said. “The girls battled against Division 1 and Division 3 schools. We went 3-1 and finished fifth overall; our only loss was to the tournament champion.”
The girls topped Laguna Creek 26-24, 25-17 and then lost to Miramonte, 25-23, 19-25, 10-15. Against Mariposa, the Lady Cougars won 27-29, 25-22, 16-14 and then defeated College Park 25-19, 21-25, 15-11.
JV/Freshmen
It was a winning week for the junior varsity girls, as they started off with a decisive victory at Orestimba, 25-6, 25-12.
“Alaina Mancilla had seven aces, Aubrey Anderson-Castro had 11 assists and Lainie Harris had nine kills,” said JV head coach Alyssa Cogburn.
On the home court Thursday, it was another straight sets victory. This time, the girls handled RC, though in a much tighter contest, 27-25, 25-23.
Kinsley Henry had five aces, with 13 digs from Ryan Killingsworth and 10 kills from Evelynn Strong.
Orestimba does not have a freshman team so the youngest Lady Cougars had just one match this past week. They opened up what turned out to be an Escalon sweep of Ripon Christian with a two-set victory on Thursday night. Scores were 25-14, 25-17.
“Olivia Raley had seven kills and four digs,” said freshman head coach Mya Scott. “Paitynn Russell and Brooklyn Karp with seven digs, Makayla Lopez had two aces and four digs.”
The volleyball teams will be in action Thursday, Oct. 15 against Hughson and then all will be back on the home court for Tuesday, Oct. 20 contests hosting Ripon.
FLAG FOOTBALL
Starting the week on the road, Escalon’s varsity flag football girls took a shutout loss to Hughson, falling 20-0 in the Trans-Valley League contest on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
They were at home for another league game on Thursday, Oct. 8 and it was also celebrated as Senior Night for the team, kicking off the second round of league play.
Each senior was introduced, meeting family members to be escorted to the sideline while some information was shared about them. Several of the seniors have been involved with the flag football program for all four years of high school. Honored seniors were, in alphabetical order, Payton Abbott, Rachelle Barker, Juliette Chavarria, Brooklyn Dugo, Aimee Esquivel, Tyliann Holback, Alexandra Romero, and Rebecca Wampler.
On the field, the teams were knotted up at halftime, 6-6, with Escalon’s touchdown coming on a pass from Lola Duenas to Yesenia Marsellis, who went up for the ball in the end zone, had it tip off her hands, then pulled it in as she was tumbling to the ground, securing it and recording the TD catch.
But Ripon found the end zone three more times in the second half to walk away with the 27-6 league win.
The team was scheduled to play Sonora on Oct. 13, face Hilmar on Oct. 15, travel to Orestimba on Oct. 20 and close out the season with a home game hosting Hughson on Oct. 22.
“We are hopeful to play well this week, but we still have a few starters out with injuries,” said head coach Danelle Hagen.
For the JV girls, they earned a split in their games this past week.
“We lost a tough one at Hughson, 21-20,” JV head coach Lisa Luis said of the Oct. 6 game. “We played well, but had some defensive breakdowns and didn’t convert on a PAT.”
Kyla Holback found Lauryn Siegel in the end zone for a touchdown to get the scoring started for Escalon, then “used her speed to get one on in on a QB sneak,” Luis noted.
Also, the team got a rushing touchdown from Hadley Casazza, who has continued to improve her game week after week, the coach said.
Defensively, Natalia Romero made some tough flag pulls for loss.
On the home field on Oct. 8, Escalon got a 15-14 win over Ripon.
“We didn’t play our best game, but we played well enough to get the win,” Luis said. “Hadley Casazza and Abigail Pereira had rushing touchdowns. Kyla Holback played well at QB, connecting on several passes to Lauryn Siegel for positive yardage.”
Casazza had an interception on defense, while Briley Silva and Maci Woodruff played well at inside linebacker with tackles for loss.
GOLF
There was just one event on the schedule for Escalon’s varsity golf girls this past week, as they traveled to play Orestimba at St. Stanislaus Golf Course on Oct. 7.
“Like the last time we played them, we knew going in that it would be a win because Orestimba has just three golfers currently on the team,” head coach Chris Casazza said of Escalon getting the forfeit win. “But to qualify for playoffs, all league honors, etc., our girls needed to get their scores in. Plus, who doesn’t love playing golf?”
It was a solid round for Escalon, paced by the 38s carded by Samantha Bruns and Jayci Trimble, a 41 from Sofia Da Silva and 42 by Kristina Mendoza. Not counted was the score of Lori Brown, 54.
“Samatha made about a 25-foot putt for a birdie, Jayci had a tee shot land three feet from the hole,” Casazza noted of some highlights on the course. “Sofia and Kristina both had season low scores. It was a great round and I was super happy with their performance, and happy for them. The girls had a great time and it was a really fun round.”
The JV team was busy, hosting Riverbank on Oct. 5, Oakdale on Oct. 6 and Hughson on Oct. 8.
“We didn’t keep team scores for these rounds because both teams were working on pace of play and their collective team skills,” the coach said. “It was a great opportunity for our JV girls to get on the course and get some action. Learning to manage their time, club selection, shot making decision skills, and playing with opposing team golfers is a bit of a slow process, so we let the JV girls focus on those during their matches.”
JV golfers on the course for Escalon were Brisa Patino, Natalie Paxman, Marissa Miller, Alexis Tovar and Lucy Boles.
The varsity girls are scheduled to play Hilmar on the road Oct. 14 and the JV travels to play at Ripon on Oct. 15.
Editor Marg Jackson contributed to this report.
