Croninger stars in Golden Valley’s volleyball win

Abbee Croninger finds herself in a leading role for the Golden Valley High volleyball team this season. It’s one the Cougars junior feels she’s ready to take on.

If Thursday’s night opener against Madera was an audition, the 6-foot-1 middle blocker won the part.

Croninger recorded a career high 21 kills to go along with seven blocks to lead the Cougars (1-0) to a 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11 win over Madera at Cougar Arena.

“Abbee has improved more than anyone on our team,” Golden Valley coach Matt Thissen said. “She’s really taken a leadership role and she’s become a go-to type of player. Those are two roles we didn’t ask of her last year.”

With last year’s star Belen Castillo now a freshman at Cal, the Cougars need new players to step into the spotlight.

Croninger and senior outside hitter Kendra Barroso look ready to accept that challenge. Barroso finished with 12 kills and four aces.

“We are ready and we want to step up,” Croninger said. “We’re working hard to fill those spots.”

There were plenty of up and down swings against Madera as both teams are still learning to play together early on in the season. The Coyotes have five sophomores on the roster and the Cougars have players figuring out their roles.

After a slow start, Golden Valley used a 10-1 run en route to winning the first game. When the Cougars were running good they were serving and passing well. Freshman libero Naomi Jackson led Golden Valley with 23 digs and Naomi Peterson had 18. Setter Felicya Zuniga recorded 32 assists.

The momentum from late in the first game didn’t carry overas Madera (0-2) jumped out to a 16-7 lead in the second game. Logan Grewal (nine kills and two blocks) led the way for the Coyotes.

“We’ve been consistently inconsistent this year,” Thissen said. “When we’re playing pretty good, we’ve played some high-quality volleyball this year. We’ve just had a hard time sustaining it. We’re definitely going through some growing pains early on.”

Golden Valley rallied from a 22-20 deficit in game three to win 25-23. Barroso had a key kill to tie the match at 22-all. This time it was Madera making a couple hitting errors and a service error late that helped the Cougars take a 2-1 lead.

After Madera forced game five, Golden Valley used a two 4-0 runs to open up an 11-6 lead. Outside hitter Jesse Martinez-Puentes came up with three big kills in the fifth game to help the Cougars take control early.

“She’s super quiet and I’m trying to pull her out of her shell on the court,” Thissen said. “It’s early in the season, but she’s had some big kills in big moments for us. We’re not afraid to set her the ball.”

Madera was able to cut the lead to 12-10, but a Zuniga kill and Croninger block helped the Cougars close out the victory.

Croninger likes what she sees from her team early.

“I feel like we need to step up as hitters and we all need to play clean,” she said. “We need to master the simple things and not try to do the extravagant things. I think a lot of us are working together and we’re learning how to play with each other. We’re getting pretty close. I think a couple more matches and we’ll be comfortable with each other.”

Dos Palos 3, Los Banos 1 at Dos Palos – Makenna Pierce recorded 25 kills and Grace Schofield added 29 asssists and seven aces as the Broncos won 25-17, 26-24, 20-25, 25-15.

Boys Golf

Golden Valley 6, Riverbank 2 at Riverbank – Cruz Melgarejo dominated the pitch, scoring three goals and assisting on two others as the Cougars improved to 5-0-1. Sergio Valencia added a goal and an assist for Golden Valley.

Girls Golf

El Capitan 218, Patterson 246 at Patterson – Salina Carbaugh led the Gauchos (2-0 Western Athletic Conference) with a round of 48. Marcelina Mariano carded a 52 for El Capitan.

Girls Tennis

Los Banos 7, Atwater 2 at Los Banos – Shirley Liu, Melanie Silva, Taylor Torongo, Audrey Moreno, Kyle Cardoza and Kiara Azevedo all won as the Tigers swept the six singles matches to improve to 3-0.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 10:31 PM with the headline "Croninger stars in Golden Valley’s volleyball win."