Buhach Colony has sights set on ending 11-year CCC championship drought.
Its’ been over a decade since Buhach Colony has won a Central California Conference volleyball championship. Cameron Gray and the Thunder want to end that drought this season.
“It would mean a lot to finally win one,” said Gray, who’s in her fourth varsity season. “Especially with this group. Last year we were so close and came in second. We finished in third the year before that. Its’ my senior year, I want to be first.”
The Thunder’s last championship came in 2007 with Michelle Osmer as coach. Pitman or Turlock have won every CCC championship since 2011. With Pitman and Turlock moving out of the CCC this year and Patterson and Central Valley coming in, the conference championship is there for the taking.
Buhach Colony showed why its the favorite to win the new-look CCC this season during Wednesday’s 25-14, 26-24, 25-14 win over Golden Valley at Cougar Arena.
It starts with Gray, who verbally committed to Boise State last year, and continues right through the Thunder roster that includes six returning starters.
“All of us have gone to the playoffs and all of us have felt that heartache of losing in the playoffs together,” said Gray, who led the Thunder with 21 digs. “We know how each other moves on the court. We all know our offense. There’s a comfort there.”
Setters Mallory Pazin and Miranda Baptista were able to spread the ball around as they orchestrated the offense against Golden Valley 4-4 overall, 1-1 CCC). Pazin finished with a team-high 19 assists.
Sophomore Maggie Seifert led the Thunder with nine kills and Bapista added eight kills. Johnson added five kills and three aces in the middle, helping keep the Cougars from focusing on the outside attack.
“It’s a huge deal,” Buhach Colony coach Adrienne Beltrami said. “Running our middles is super important. It opens up the pins. All our middles do a good job of being available.”
Beltrami took over the Thunder program this season. She’s a Ripon High graduate and later coached at Ripon for 5 years. She’s spent the last 2 years at Holy Names Names University.
“I just look at everything as a blessing,” Beltrami said. “I’m excited to be a head coach here. I love coaching. It’s a very talented program from the freshmen to the seniors. This group is definitely comfortable. I have five seniors and that’s awesome. I don’t know how many teams have five seniors.”
The players feel the coaching transition has been smooth.
“She’s great,” Johnson said. “It’s been really good having her as a coach. There’s been some changes made, but they’ve been for the good.”
Outside of the second game, Golden Valley struggled to push the Thunder. Zoya Wood led the Cougars with 24 assists and two aces. Aleena Jimenez (eight kills) and Nicole Wood (seven kills) led the GV offense.
The Thunder have reached the state playoffs the last two seasons and are looking for another deep run.
“We want to go deep in the playoffs,” Johnson said. “Our main goal is to win league. It’s been a while since Buhach Colony has won league.”
Merced 3, Patterson 0 in Merced - The Bears snapped their 13-game conference losing streak with 25-16, 25-15, 25-16 win over the Tigers. Ellie Hamm finished with six kills and seven aces for Merced (5-2 overall, 1-0 CCC). Roxy Foroutan added 11 digs.
It was Merced’s first CCC win since 2016 and just the Bears second CCC win since 2014.
El Capitan 3, Central Valley 0 in Ceres - The Gauchos improved to 2-0 in the CCC with a 25-18, 25-19, 25-20 win over the Hawks. Robin Helms had 13 kills and four blocks and Paige Martin added nine kills, nine digs and four aces for El Capitan. Natalie Collins chipped in with 35 assists for the Gauchos.
This story was originally published September 5, 2018 at 9:07 PM.