El Capitan defeats Golden Valley in CCC volleyball showdown to clinch outright title
The El Capitan High School girls volleyball team celebrated a second consecutive Central California Conference championship on Monday night after defeating Golden Valley 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 at Cougar Arena.
The Gauchos improved to 26-4 overall and 11-0 in the CCC.
“We played so together tonight, and played for each other with everyone pitching in,” said El Capitan coach Chela Moreno. “I’ve said it before but the chemistry this team has together is something different, and amazing.”
Monday’s match was a showdown between the top two teams in the CCC, with Golden Valley’s only conference loss prior to Monday coming to the Gauchos on Sept. 27.
El Capitan shared the CCC championship with Merced and Buhach Colony. Monday’s victory clinched an outright CCC title.
Hanna Moradzadeh led the Gauchos with 13 kills, and 10 digs. Gianna Veldhuis chipped in with 10 kills, nine digs and one ace. Freshman Sophie Fernandez had an nice all-around game with seven kills, two blocks, seven digs and 13 assists.
El Capitan’s Reese Cuttone added seven kills and three blocks, senior setter Wendy Vang orchestrated the offense with 25 assists to go along with nine digs and two aces and senior libero Leah Mendoza finished with 13 digs.
“Winning tonight means a lot to the girls, but everyone said tonight we are not done,” Moreno said. “We have one more game Wednesday and after that we will celebrate. Our girls want to finish undefeated, so for them the work isn’t done.”
The Gauchos will close out the regular season at home on Wednesday night against Patterson. Golden Valley (22-9, 9-2 CCC will finish at Merced on Wednesday.
