With final volleyball CCC playoff spot up for grabs, Merced sweeps Golden Valley.
For the second consecutive year, the final Central California Conference girls volleyball playoff spot came down to the final crosstown match between Merced and Golden Valley.
For the second straight year, the Bears are headed to the playoffs.
Merced swept the Cougars 25-17, 25-19, 25-20 on Wednesday night on Vince Clemons Court to finish off a strong second-half surge. The Bears went 5-1 in the second half of CCC play to earn their way back into the playoffs.
“We didn’t expect it to come down to the last game,” said Merced coach Patricia Flanagan, whose team finished 8-4 in the CCC. “That kind of brought us down a little bit. We lost part of our spark the last time we played Golden Valley.”
The spark returned just in time for the Bears to save their season.
Ellie Hamm led the way for Merced with 15 kills and five aces. Faith Oseguera finished with 12 assists and Vanessa Perez added 11 assists.
Roy Foroutan led the defense for Merced with 12 digs.
“We really had to remind ourselves why we play and what we are playing for,” Flanagan said. “Why do we put in all this hard work? We put in so much work.”
Hamm said the Bears weren’t sure how they would come out and play. With the season on the line, Hamm said the players were nervous all day leading up to the match.
“I think we were down six points in the first game,” Hamm said. “When we came back from that and built a pretty sizable lead, it was like, ‘OK, we’ve got this.’ We just had to maintain that level of play for the rest of the match.”
Buhach Colony 3, Atwater 0 in Atwater — Celina Henn recorded 17 assists and Maggie Seifert added nine kills and two aces as the Thunder swept the Falcons 25-19, 25-19, 25-17.
Gianna Clarot finished with seven kills and Cruzelly Quirarte recorded 14 assists for Buhach Colony (10-2 CCC).
This story was originally published October 23, 2019 at 9:39 PM.
