The Manteca Buffaloes pulled away in a tightly contested first set that saw them tied 16-16 against visiting rival Sierra before going on to win 25-20, 25-13, and 25-14 in straight sets Tuesday night in Valley Oak League volleyball action.
“I can really feel this team starting to come together,” head coach Robin Chandler said of her Manteca squad. “Sierra is a very good team and obviously the match started off really close, but I was really encouraged by the way we responded in that first set and throughout the rest of the evening.”
Manteca (2-0 VOL, 5-4 overall) leaned on strong play at the net on both sides of the ball from middle blockers Trinity Todd and Talia Shellbourne to finish off Sierra (0-2, 4-6) in the opener. Todd ended the night with four kills and four blocks, while Shelbourne racked up four blocks of her own to go along with five kills.
“We really locked in there late in the first set,” Todd said. “The mentality of this team is to focus on the next point, and when we find ourselves in close sets like the first doing just that can go a long way in helping us pull it out.”
For Sierra coach Lexi Raya, there are positives to take away from the first set, as the team moves forward in what is a busy week that will see it play matches on three consecutive days.
“We showed a lot of fight in that first set,” Raya said. “We got a few of our hitters going, made some great plays to keep rallies alive on defense, but things just kind of got away from us as the match went on.”
The Timberwolves were led offensively in the opener and throughout the match by outside hitters Hannah Threet (nine kills) and Bella Lee (four kills).
Manteca seemed to capitalize on the first set momentum in the second frame, as senior setter Riley Ward (32 assists) was able to find outside hitters Taimane Tu’uga (11 kills) and Saniyah Anthony (12 kills) early and often in a 25-13 win to go up 2-0.
“We were really intentional at the net tonight,” Shellbourne said. “Riley did a great job getting us all involved and we were just going up there strong and were able to make some plays to help us get the win.”
Sierra showed that they would not go down easily early in the third set. A few service errors from Manteca combined with a pair of kills from Threet helped the Timberwolves find themselves down just 9-7 early on. After a timeout from Manteca coach Chandler, Anthony responded with four kills the rest of the set to help the Buffaloes close out Sierra to remain undefeated in league play.
Manteca will play next on Thursday as it hosts defending VOL champion Central Catholic.
“This team is really motivated to play for each other,” Anthony said. “We know they are a really good team, but if we keep up the energy we played with tonight, we should put ourselves in a really good spot to get the result we want.”
A short memory will behoove the Timberwolves, as they travel to Turlock on Wednesday before coming back home to host Patterson in league play on Thursday.
“I don’t want these girls to dwell on this result for the rest of this week,” Raya said. ‘We can take the good things we did tonight eliminate some mistakes and start fresh tomorrow with a new opportunity.”
