Buhach Colony volleyball continues second-half surge

The Buhach Colony High girls volleyball team came into Thursday’s night match with plenty of motivation.

The Thunder eagerly wanted to avenge a five-game loss to El Capitan earlier this season. More importantly, Buhach Colony knew playoff seeding was on the line with the Gauchos and Thunder both tied with three losses.

“They got a bad seed last year and they were out in the first round,” said first-year Buhach Colony coach Andy Hill. “They knew what was on the line tonight. They told me as the first-year coach what was on the line. They do not want to lose in the first round again this year. They want to get the highest seed they can going into the playoffs.”

The Thunder got their revenge and took an edge in the Central California Conference standings with a 25-20, 25-20, 26-24 win at El Capitan High.

Buhach Colony sophomore Cameron Gray felt the loss to El Capitan (14-12, 7-4 CCC) on Sept. 27 was a wake-up call for the Thunder. Since the loss, Buhach Colony has won five of six conference matches including an upset of Turlock.

“We’ve worked so hard since that loss,” said Gray, who finished with 11 kills and seven digs. “We’ve lengthened practices, we’ve watched video for hours on end to figure out how we can get better as a team. I can’t tell you how much we wanted to win this game.”

Gray and Jessica Pinasco set the tone early for the Thunder (17-9, 7-3) from the left side and Buhach Colony setters Mallory Pazin (22 assists and three aces) and Miranda Baptista (18 assists) force fed Gray and Pinasco throughout the match.

Pinasco finished with 20 kills, including some thunderous kills.

“That’s where they really hurt us,” said El Capitan coach Maycol Fernandez. “We don’t have a tall player to put on that side. We try to keep our middle in the middle. Their hitters were really good tonight.”

The Thunder sprinted out to a 13-5 lead in the first game and withstood a late surge from El Capitan that eventually tied the game at 20-all. However, Buhach Colony finished with five consecutive points with the help of two kills from Gray and block from Morgan Johnson.

All three games were competitive late, but the Thunder figured out ways to close out each game.

“We did a lot of reps in practice,” Pinasco said. “We worked on our weaker rotations so we’re not stuck in a game giving up seven straight points.”

The Thunder scored the final four points in the second game as Emma Seifert, Pinasco and Baptista all recorded kills down the stretch to give BC a 2-0 lead.

El Capitan’s Ariana Johnson picked up back-to-back kills late in the third game to give the Gauchos a 24-23 lead.

However, the Thunder responded with three straight points to finish off the match as Pinasco picked up a kill and Jenny Zaragoza recorded one of her three blocks.

“I think this team has learned to play through adversity and how to play as a team through adversity,” Hill said. “When adversity hits, it’s not the coach that’s going to get them through it. They have to rise to the occasion together.

“After beating Turlock and playing some powerful teams in the Stockton tournament, they are starting believing in themselves. They believe they can play with better teams.”

Golden Valley 3, Atwater 1 in Atwater – Abbee Croninger finished with 20 kills, four blocks and four aces as the Cougars defeated the Falcons 25-13, 25-18, 21-25, 25-15. Karen Kale added 43 assists, 15 digs and six aces for Golden Valley.

Stone Ridge Christian 3, Jim Elliot Christian 0 in Merced – The Knights (23-3, 10-0 Central California Athletic Alliance) clinched their first CCAA championship with a 25-12, 25-20, 25-15 victory over the Eagles. Aubriana Vander Woude led the way with 13 kills. Sadi Tucker added 10 kills and Tara Silva chipped in with 26 assists and four aces.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Buhach Colony volleyball continues second-half surge."