Thunder rolling at the right time as the volleyball playoffs approach
Andy Hill might be watching his team get hot at the end of the year for the second consecutive season.
The Buhach Colony High girls volleyball coach watched as the Thunder dominated El Capitan 25-12, 25-18, 25-16 on Thursday night to all but lock up second place in the Central California Conference heading into the final week of the regular season.
“Overall our team is peeking at the right time,” said Hill, who led the Thunder to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinals and NorCal semifinals last season. “Our defense was on point tonight. This is the best our team has played.”
Buhach Colony (16-12, 8-2 CCCC) has won six CCC matches in a row and eight of its last nine matches overall.
The Thunder used a balanced attack to blitz the Gauchos (14-12, 7-4).
Sophomore Miranda Baptista turned in a strong all-around performance with nine kills, nine digs and six blocks. Freshman Maggie Seifert chipped in with nine kills and three aces. Mallory Pazin added 18 assists and 11 digs and Cameron Gray contributed six kills, two aces and 13 digs.
“This is a different team than we were at the beginning of the season,” Hill said. “This team is loaded with talent, but now they’ve come together as a team.”
The Thunder jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first game as Gray picked up three quick kills, forcing Gauchos coach Araceli Moreno to burn both of her timeouts trying to get El Capitan to right the ship.
The Gauchos started quickly again in the second game, sprinting out to a 6-1 lead. After the Gauchos climbed back to cut the lead to 9-8, BC used another 7-1 run to open up a 16-9 lead with the help of a Morgan Johnson block and a Seifert kill. Johnson finished with a team-high six blocks.
The Thunder used a 7-0 run and a 5-0 run to take control of the third game with a 17-9 lead.
Buhach Colony will close out the regular season with matches against Turlock and Atwater next week.
Dos Palos 3, Firebaugh 0 in Dos Palos – Jaiden Biscay recorded 15 kills and Grace Schofield finished with 30 assists and four aces as the Broncos defeated the Eagles 25-17, 25-17, 25-19 to improve to 21-10 overall and 8-1 in the West Sierra League.
College Men’s Soccer
UC Merced 13, Saint Katherine College 0 in Merced – Artemio Contreras, Ricky Rosas, Erik Romero and Hugo Soto all scored two goals as the Bobcats improved to 8-1-4 this season.
Women’s Soccer
UC Merced 8, Saint Katherine College 0 in Merced – Freshmen Jennifer Sallinger recorded her second hat trick of the season with three goals as the Bobcats (8-5-1) rolled to a victory. Bridget Villanueva added two goals for UC Merced.
This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Thunder rolling at the right time as the volleyball playoffs approach."