Turlock Christian volleyball beats Merced’s Stone Ridge Christian; Modesto’s Big Valley Christian awaits

Turlock Christian avenged a Central California Athletic Alliance volleyball loss to Stone Ridge Christian by defeating the Knights 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18 on Tuesday night at Calvary Baptist Church.

In settling the score with Stone Ridge, which won in three games on Oct. 12 in Merced, the Eagles are now in position to unseat the five-time defending CCAA champion from Big Valley Christian, which won back-to-back Harvest Christian League crowns before joining the CCAA).

Turlock Christian (20-8, 10-1 CCAA) and Big Valley (15-8, 10-1) meet Thursday at 6 p.m. in Turlock. A win for the Eagles makes them outright league champions; a win by the Lions creates a co-championship and extends their reign.

Stone Ridge, meanwhile, is out of the championship hunt.

“We needed to win tonight to force a three-way tie,” said Knights coach Ken Shaw, now in his 12th season guiding the program. “I leaned heavily on my seniors (Monday) night, and I wonder if they weren’t a little fatigued. Maybe if we’d played Turlock Christian on a different night, it might’ve been a different outcome. But there was dynamite play by both teams.”

One unique aspect of CCAA scheduling features a slew of back-to-back matches throughout the season. Both teams were coming off matches Monday, though Stone Ridge had the tougher draw, as Big Valley won a grueling five-setter 25-21, 30-28, 22-25, 22-25, 15-11.

That made dealing with Turlock Christian’s attack all the more difficult. Nicky Sanders and Abbie Morelli combined for 30 kills, including several key winners during stretches of games 3 and 4.

After splitting the first two games, the Knights bolted to a 7-2 lead in the third game, but the Eagles fought back to make it 10-9 as Morelli headed to the service line. Turlock Christian won the next seven points to take a 16-10 lead before Morelli finally served one long.

Still, the Knights weren’t done. They stormed back and tied it at 23 before a kill by Sanders and an ace serve by Morelli closed it out.

In the fourth game, the Eagles took a 10-5 lead and never led by fewer than five the rest of the way. Sanders sealed the victory with a thunderbolt down the line to her left.

“Volleyball is a mental game,” Sanders said. “With them coming off a loss (Monday) night, maybe that was in their head a little bit. But both teams were playing to the best of their abilities and pushed each other.”

Turlock Christian coach Pam Franco thinks there is room for her club to improve.

“Right now, we have a little ways until we peak; we haven’t reached it yet,” said the first-year head coach, who’s been with the program seven years. “Now it’s Big Valley and us.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Turlock Christian volleyball beats Merced’s Stone Ridge Christian; Modesto’s Big Valley Christian awaits."