El Capitan uses balanced attack to win key CCC volleyball match against Merced
Sharing a Central California Conference championship last year didn’t sit well with the El Capitan High girls volleyball team.
The Gauchos felt they let a chance of an outright title slip away, including a loss at Merced in the second round of the conference schedule.
That fed into the motivation this season for a team that returns eight seniors and all but one starter from last year’s group.
The Gauchos showed they plan on contending again this year with an emphatic 25-17, 25-9, 25-9 victory over Merced on Vince Clemons Court on Wednesday night.
“We were very disappointed last year,” said El Capitan senior libero Leah Mendoza. “We knew the team we had. Sharing the title wasn’t satisfying for us.”
The Gauchos have been waiting for an opportunity to avenge their loss at Merced. The players admitted in the past the Merced High student section had gotten to them.
“I’ve got to give (Merced’s) student section credit,” said El Capitan coach Chela Moreno. “They are very loud. Our goal tonight was to play El Capitan volleyball. We wanted to zone everything out. Let them say what they want to say. Let them chant what they want them to chant. Our girls were able to (block that out) tonight.”
The Gauchos dominated with a balanced attack as they improved to 2-0 in the CCC and 5-1 overall. Merced dropped to 1-1 in the CCC and 3-4 overall.
“We’ve been waiting for this match for a year,” Mendoza said. “We lost here the last two years and we didn’t want to do that again.”
Senior Wendy Vang orchestrated the offense, finishing with 29 assists and serving up eight aces. Outside hitter Gianna Veldhuis chipped in with 10 kills, nine digs and three aces. Hanna Moradzadeh added seven kills and nine digs and Reese Cuttone recorded six kills and two blocks.
“It’s a big advantage that we don’t have to depend on one hitter,” Moreno said. “We can spread the ball around. We have five hitters.”
The Gauchos picked up steam toward the end of the first game and then dominated the rest of the way.
“We kept picking each other up,” Vang said. “We weren’t too confident and we weren’t too comfortable. We just kept everybody up. If we made a mistake we didn’t turn on each other.”
Moreno picked up career win No. 100 last week and says this group is so special to her this may be the team she ends her coaching career with after this season.
“This team just has chemistry that other teams don’t have,” Moreno said. “They are always hanging out together, they have sleepovers, they eat lunch together, they’re always with each other. I’ve been with these eight seniors for a long time. It’s just a special group.”
“We’re a family,” Mendoza added. “We’re like sisters. We love each other. Whether we win or lose we know we’re there for each other.”
