Merced girls golf moves closer to winning first conference championship.
Since the program was started in 2000, the Merced High girls golf team has never won a Central California Conference championship. The Bears took another step toward their first conference championship on Tuesday by winning the CCC Midseason Tournament at Dryden Park Golf Course in Modesto.
Phoebe Arista shot a 98 and Aubreanne Aponte carded a 101 to help lead Merced to the win. The Bears finished with a team score of 527, which was 40 points better than second-place Buhach Colony (567).
Lauren Palumbo (108), Kaitlyn Neely (109) and Zoe Robertson (111) rounded out Merced’s top five scorers. The Bears went 6-0 in the dual matches against the other six CCC teams.
Buhach Colony’s Caitlin Garcia turned in the low round of the day with a 97. Thunder teammate Maddie Freitas finished second with a 98.
Girls Volleyball
Le Grand 3, Mariposa 1 in Mariposa - Priscilla Barnett recorded 13 kills and eight blocks to help the Bulldogs improve to 4-0 in the Southern League with a victory over the Grizzlies. Alexa Ultreras added 10 kills and 12 digs for Le Grand (8-3 overall).
Stone Ridge Christian 3, Turlock Christian 0 in Turlock - Sadi Tucker had 10 kills and Sydney Shaw and Brooke Wareham finished with 12 assists as the Knights won 25-9, 25-9, 25-13 to improve to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the Central California Athletic Alliance.
Girls Water Polo
El Capitan 16, Golden Valley 4 in Merced - Kendall Thomas turned in a strong all-around performance with four goals, five assists and four steals in a win over the Cougars. Alexis Smith added three goals and two steals for the Gauchos.
Merced 14, Patterson 1 in Merced Laura Tweed scored three goals and Daphnee Keltner, Madeline Halla nd Bailey Russel all scored two goals to help the Bears improve to 2-0 in the CCC.
Boys Water Polo
Merced 14, Patterson 3 in Merced - Vincent Arroyo, JC Soto, Easton Hamm, David Chen and Gavin Musquez all scored two goals as the Bears improved to 1-1 in the CCC with a win over the Tigers. Merced goalie Owen Krieger recorded seven saves.
Girls Tennis
Atwater 7, Patterson 2 in Atwater - Anessa Cardenas, Alondra Celis, Citali Haro, Marissa Orozco and Jacky Molina all won their singles matches to help the Falcons improve to 3-3 in the CCC.
El Capitan 9, Buhach Colony 0 in Atwater - The Gauchos swept the Thunder behind strong performances by Jenasis Yarnell, Riddi Parilen, Anna Gueorguieva, Karen Godinez, Paula Almeda and Serena Mahli, who all won their singles matches in straight sets. The El Capitan doubles teams Meghan Bowser/ Cassandra Macalincag, Lauren Leonardo/ Kayla Ochoa and Italia Valenzuela/ Alyssa Molina were also straight set winners.
This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 9:05 AM.