Buhach Colony picks up key win over El Capitan in battle of unbeaten CCC teams
Buhach Colony volleyball has battled back from two sets down to beat teams in five a couple times this year. The Thunder did it just last week against Golden Valley.
The Thunder know what it’s like to have that momentum on their side going into that fifth game.
The BC players didn’t want to be the team blowing the lead this time. Not with first place in the Central California Conference standings on the line in a match against El Capitan.
The Thunder regrouped after squandering a two-game lead and were able to hold off the Gauchos 25-22, 26-24, 19-25, 20-25, 15-9 in a back and forth battle between two teams that came into the match unbeaten through their first three CCC matches.
“It’s tough to do that,” said BC coach Emili Rivera, whose team improved to 17-4 overall and 4-0 in the CCC. “Some times that other team that is coming back is fighting like they want it more.”
Thunder setter Jaylin Pinasco called it a stressful match.
“It was already our biggest match of the season coming in,” said Pinasco, who orchestrated the offense with 35 assists. “I’m proud that we all kept working as a team. It was a fun night.”
The Thunder made the plays late down the stretch in the first two games to build a 2-0 lead.
However, the Gauchos (16-8, 3-1 CCC) didn’t go down easy.
El Capitan started making plays as they rallied back. There was outside hitter Gianna Veldhuis coming up with some big hits, finishing with 16 kills, 17 digs and four aces. Junior Hanna Moradzadeh chipped in with 12 kills, two aces and 20 digs and Saaya Malhi added eight kills, 13 assist and 15 digs.
Libero Leah Mendoza (22 digs) started making some key plays in the back row and El Capitan battled back to force a fifth game after pulling out wins in games three and four.
The Gauchos just couldn’t come all the way back.
“You can’t dig yourself in a hole like that and expect to come back,” said El Capitan coach Chela Moreno. “It’s too hard to dig yourself out of it.”
Moreno wasn’t looking for any moral victories. She wasn’t happy with her team’s performance.
“I’m disappointed,” she said. “I don’t care that we came back to force a fifth game. I’ll take a loss on any night as long as we play well. We didn’t play well. We weren’t communicating. We were letting the ball drop. We don’t let the ball drop. I will say our blocking was exceptional tonight, but we weren’t communicating and we didn’t play well on defense.”
Buhach Coloy was led by Celina Henn’s 21 kills. Cruzelly Quirarte led the defense with 24 digs and Skyler Dietz finished with two blocks.
The Thunder now sit along atop the CCC with key wins over Golden Valley and El Capitan.
“In this league all the teams are pretty even on talent,” Rivera said. “It’s whoever shows up to fight that night. We got contributions from everybody tonight. We all fought.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 10:50 PM.
