Last night at Sierra, our varsity volleyball team took Sierra to the fifth game in a back and forth battle. The match saw the Cougars take games one and three and losing games two and four, thus forcing the pivotal game five.

With the fifth set tied 12-12 Thursday night, Sierra’s Stella Brierly got two of the next three points on aces to lead the Timberwolves to a thrilling 17-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-10, 15-12 Valley Oak League volleyball win over visiting Weston Ranch. (mantecabulletin.com)

Throughout the night, both teams struggled with holding serve and establishing any point scoring momentum. Both sides played hard, but both suffered unforced errors, which hampered either team from going on runs. The back and forth scoring was exciting but somewhat nerve-wracking for both teams.
“It was going back and forth for a long time,” Weston Ranch coach Nayeli Moreno said. “That team wanted it a little more than our girls, and we had a lot of mistakes tonight.” (mantecabulletin.com)

The pivotal play of the night was in the fifth set, which saw the Cougars leading 12-11 and looking to close it out had they hung onto the serve. During the play, the Cougars played a ball that appeared to be heading out of bounds, and after the return, Sierra won the point. Had the Cougars let the ball go wide, they would have had a 13-11 lead, the serve, and possibly serving for the final two points of the tie-breaking game. But, alas, the aggressive nature of the Cougars cost them the point, made the game 12-12, and Sierra served out the final three points for the win.

Senior Julianna Lassiter led the Cougars with ten digs, four kills, two assists, and two aces. Junior Cheyenne Lewis added eight kills and five aces, Sophomore Valeria Aguila had four assists one ace and two digs, Junior Sierrah Cleary had ten assists, two kills, and two digs, and Janelle Ico made four kills, an ace, and two digs. Finally, Junior Allyna Tayag closed out WR’s excellent effort as she added three kills, two aces, and two blocks.

Wins have been tough to come by this year. Currently, the Cougars are 0-10 in VOL play and 3-16 overall, but last night’s game saw the Cougars continuing to play hard and their steadfast determination to fight for victories. The Cougars have three more games before they conclude the season on October 24th at home against Manteca. The Cougars will be on the court again on October 15th at home against Oakdale.

Contributing to this article was our friend in journalism Dave Campbell and the Manteca Bulletin.  Photos courtesy of Wayne Thalla nder.