Getting a win on the home court early in the week, the Escalon varsity volleyball boys then went on the road and fell in that game.

They beat Hilmar in straight sets on Tuesday, April 16 with scores of 25-18, 25-15, 25-22.

“Both outsides Mikie Lourenco and Carson Medina had eight kills. Preston Berhorst had six kills while Ethan Jacobs and Frank Barrera had four each,” said head coach Shay Beam. “Setter Ben Ferreira had 25 assists.”

Lourenco had four aces to lead the team; Ferreira, Berhorst and Noah Gutierrez all had three. Libero Aydun Melo recorded 15 digs on the night.

“Thursday we traveled to Livingston,” Beam said of the April 18 contest, which saw the Cougars fall in three sets. Scores were 17-25, 14-25, 13-25.

“We really struggled with serve receive,” admitted Beam. “Livingston has some strong hitters and a quick offense. Our hitters still did some good things, though.”

Leading the way were Medina and Lourenco with five kills each, Jacobs and Berhorst had two kills apiece.

“Frank Barrera defended the net with three blocks,” Beam said.

The team will honor Barrera at a home match on Thursday, April 25 for Senior Night; he is the only senior on this first year varsity volleyball team.

JV Boys

For the JV team, it was a Tuesday win at home against Hilmar, 25-19, 25-17.

Noah Martin had five kills, Ezra Rameno and K’Oz Castro had three kills each and Christian Ramirez had nine assists.

“The team played like a unit,” said JV head coach Nicole Bianchi. “The team had great communication and energy both on and off the court. Something just seemed to click during this match that was missing before. The flow of play was not broken or frantic, instead players were intentional and what we have worked on in practice has really started to show during matches.”

Thursday, it was another 2-0 win for the JV Cougars, defeating Livingston 25-9, 25-16.

Andrew Olmos had three kills and one block; Castro had 13 digs. Jerenai Maglalang had four aces and Ramirez had five.

“Another phenomenal win for our team,” Bianchi said. “Right off the jump the team came out with lots of energy. Our serving was the toughest it has been all season. Our serve receive and passing was really leading the charge in our success.”

In their first meeting with Livingston, Bianchi noted they had players in positions they weren’t familiar with, as they were down a couple of players, but still managed to get a set from them. With plenty of determination this time around – and players in their normal slots – the JV Cougars turned it around and got the win.

“With the great passes, we were able to get good sets and great swings on the ball to really be strong on the net,” Bianchi said. “Being that this is their first year, I was very impressed that we reached this level of play in one season.”