Nervous El Capitan is swept by Escalon in first volleyball playoff match

It wasn’t the match the El Capitan High School volleyball team pictured in its heads.

Ariana Johnson opened the Gauchos’ first playoff match with a kill, but that was a rare bright spot Tuesday night. El Cap led for just two points all evening as its passing game unraveled on the road.

A veteran Escalon squad took full advantage by sweeping the 13th-seeded Gauchos 25-11, 25-16, 25-10 in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs.

“Our passing game failed us,” El Capitan coach Maycol Fernandez said. “We could never get anything going because our passing was never there.

“It’s something we’ve worked on quite a bit, but I had four girls that were just really nervous out there. Escalon figured it out and went after them.”

After an initial bout of nerves to open the first set, the Gauchos (10-7) seemed to settle in. Back-to-back points brought them within 9-7, but that was as close as they would get.

The fourth-seeded Cougars (25-9) exploited El Cap’s passing woes with an aggressive service game. Led by junior setter Taylor Laugero’s four aces, Escalon racked up 12 in the match. That helped it go on a number of big runs the Gauchos couldn’t counter. The first was a 16-4 run to close the opening set.

The second set was more of the same. Both teams started a little sloppy as the first 10 points came on unforced errors.

The Gauchos used Escalon’s mistakes to tie the set 10-10 but could never get their offense going. El Capitan recorded just two kills in the second set, and the Cougars used a 12-2 run to break it open.

A deflated El Capitan offered little resistance in set three. Escalon raced to a 10-2 lead and never looked back.

Oriana Danby paced the Gauchos with four kills and Dayanna Torres had eight assists in the loss.

Escalon spread the ball offensively with at least six Cougars chipping in three kills. Kylee Irwin-Paz had a match-high eight kills and Laugero had 26 assists.

“I think all of us took the court nervous, and those girls were really smart,” said Johnson, who finished with three kills and one block. “They knew our weak spots and went after them.

“We need to learn how to fight through that and keep battling regardless of the score. Hopefully, we take something away from this and can come back and go a little further in the playoffs next season.”

This story was originally published November 11, 2014 at 10:14 PM with the headline "Nervous El Capitan is swept by Escalon in first volleyball playoff match."