Merced Union High School District

The El Capitan High girls volleyball team turned in a very business-like performance, dispatching Manteca in a quick three-game sweep in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs on Tuesday night 25-8, 25-17, 25-19. The Gauchos looked every bit the part of a team that had claimed the Central California Conference crown five consecutive years.

 

There was senior Jordynn Middleton flying through the air as she slammed down a team-high 16 kills. Senior Sophie Fernandez turned in a stellar all-around effort with seven kills, three aces, 16 assists and eight digs. Fellow senior Bette Lua added 11 kills and five digs and, another senior, Colette Collins was a defensive dynamo, recording 27 digs.

 

Now those four seniors and the rest of the fifth-seeded Gauchos set their sights on making history. This group wants to be the first El Capitan girls volleyball team to advance past the second round of the playoffs. That would mean upsetting No. 4 St. Francis (30-7) on Thursday night. 

 

“We really want to do it this year, especially with a big group of seniors,” Collins said. “We want to be the first team. We've had big goals since the beginning of the year. We’ve always been thinking ahead to the playoffs.” The Gauchos have reached the second round of the playoffs eight times in the history of the program and they’re 0-8 in those matches. In seven of those eight second-round matchups, El Capitan has had to travel to the Sacramento area to face talented teams. Three times they have lost to Christian Brothers and twice to Del Oro.

“It's hard to compete against those Sacramento schools when nobody over here is anything close to that,” said El Capitan coach Chela Moreno, whose team improved to 24-10 overall and is ranked No. 12 overall in the Sac-Joaquin Section by MaxPreps. “Some of those teams have a whole team of players who are six feet tall. None of the teams around here are like that.”

 

That’s why Moreno stacks her non-conference schedule with tough tournaments. This season, the Gauchos traveled to Florida and San Diego to elite competition, similar to what they’ll see in the postseason. After cruising through the CCC with a perfect 10-0 record – without dropping a set –  Moreno and her players know they have to raise their level of play if they want to advance past Thursday night. 

 

St. Francis is ranked No. 6 in the section overall by MaxPreps after finishing third in an ultra-competitive Sierra Foothill League that features the top two teams in the section on Rocklin and Folsom, who shared the league championship. St. Francis swept Buhach Colony 25-10, 25-12, 25-10 in the first round on Tuesday.

 

The players are fired up for another opportunity. They know they have to play at a high level throughout the match. They can’t afford peaks and valleys against a team like St. Francis. “I honestly feel like we have the skill, our issue, I think it has been the mental side. For example, last year, we were doing very well, but then we would get down on ourselves, and we just couldn't mentally get back up. I think this year we're much stronger mentally, and we have a really good chance.” 

 

Moreno can’t wait to see how her girls respond. “It’s just exciting, it’s fun,” she said. “They know they have it in them, and we’ve seen them play like it. It’s like when we played  against Pitman and we came out so strong and played really amazing. Although we took the loss, we know how our team is capable of playing.”

St. Francis 3, Buhach Colony 0 – The No. 4 seeded Troubadours Sophia Palmeri’s nine kills. Buhach Colony had to play without a key weapon in Taylor Martin, who was injured in the final regular season game against Atwater last week. Maddie Zamarripa finished with four kills and Kaliyah Harvey added three kills for the Thunder. McKenna Hill chipped in with 10 assists and one ace. 

 

Rocklin 3, Atwater 0 – The top-seeded Thunder were as good as advertised as they swept the No. 16 Falcons 25-10, 25-8, 25-15 in their first round matchup. Gianna Bogan led Rocklin with eight kills. 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.