Both matches this week for Escalon’s varsity volleyball girls ended at 3-0, with one of them a loss and one of them a win.

The Lady Cougars went on the road first and were swept by Hilmar, 14-25, 22-25, 13-25. It is always a tough match up against the Yellowjackets, with this time no different.

Leading the effort with 17 assists was Hannah Boyd, while she also added one block and three aces. Mandy Murphy came away with 12 kills and one block; Sage Davis had a block; Meadow Naraghi had three aces and Tess Cosby added 16 digs.

A couple of nights later, the Lady Cougars turned the tables and took down Modesto Christian, 3-0, in action on the Escalon court on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

Scores were 25-11, 25-10, 25-11.

Davis and Leila Phillips had two blocks each, with Murphy notching 15 kills and five aces. Cosby had 14 digs against MC and Boyd had a busy night with 28 assists.

“The season is winding down and we are focused on playoffs,” said coach Teresa Williamson. “The girls are doing some great things. We just need to minimize our errors.”

The girls were scheduled to travel to Ripon on Wednesday, Oct. 10 for a match, then go to Livingston on Oct. 15. They are home for the regular season finale, Wednesday, Oct. 17 against Hughson. That will be Senior Night and another Dig Pink event to raise breast cancer awareness.

“We hope we have a packed house,” Williamson said of the final home match.

Varsity competition will start about 6:30 p.m., with recognition for the senior girls prior to the game.

JUNIOR VARSITY

It was a tough match up for the JV Lady Cougars against Hilmar, losing in a couple of hard fought sets, 21-25, 22-25.

“They didn’t play horribly but they also didn’t show up to play their level,” said coach Krystal Rodriguez, admitting that it is a long road trip to play at Hilmar but also adding that the team can’t let travel influence their work on the court.

“Unfortunately the level of ball wasn’t what they produced at their tournament the weekend before but they’re learning from this and moving on,” she said.

Kailey Costa had 14 digs and Madi Faria had 11 digs. Koren Rodriguez had five kills.

“As a team we accumulated six aces, which is usually what one player will get,” Rodriguez added. “We just didn’t show up to play.”

The outcome was definitely better against Modesto Christian, with Escalon taking a 25-17, 25-12 victory.

“I changed some things around,” Rodriguez said, including having to adjust to not having libero Kailey Costa for the match.

“I also had two players that usually play consistently sit to give others a shot at playing and those girls did very well. The team adjusted to the new lineup perfectly and my girls that were asked to play elsewhere adjusted beautifully,” the coach said. “There wasn’t much digging, almost everyone pretty much got one or two digs so we have a team total of 11 digs.”

Mya Scott had four kills; Faria had nine aces and 18 assists and Adriana Lopez added three aces.

Keeping up a busy schedule, the JV girls traveled to the Central Valley Tournament in Merced on Saturday, Oct. 6.

“We started at Merced High and moved to Golden Valley High for the Gold division,” Rodriguez explained. “Our morning started off with 2-1 start. We beat Livingston in two, lost to Merced in three and beat Gregori in three which put us in the Gold division. Sometimes it’s fun but frustrating to watch them play game after game because each one is different.”

After they played the morning pool and moved into Gold, games became single elimination.

“Well we lost our first match against Tracy which put us on the road home,” Rodriguez said. “Again, for the tournament, we were out key players like our libero Kailey Costa and our main right side hitter Cesi Rodriguez but again the team adjusted because that’s what we do.”

The coach noted that she had three different girls play libero, Madelyn Page, Gena Goodman and Koren Rodriguez and all three did the job effectively.

As a team the JV Lady Cougars had 128 digs for the tournament along with 62 kills, 54 assists and 28 aces.

They will be on the road at Ripon for a Wednesday, Oct. 10 match, then close out the season with a road game Monday, Oct. 15 at Livingston and Wednesday, Oct. 17 at home hosting Hughson. JV games start at 5:30 p.m.