Manteca’s Camden Steckler came up with a resounding match-ending block Thursday night to give the Buffaloes a 27-25, 27-25, 25-23 over visiting Sierra in a battle of Valley Oak League volleyball unbeatens at Winter Gym.
With the score tied at 23-23 in the third set, Steckler (16 kills, three blocks) pounded a kill to put Manteca (4-0 VOL, 11-5 overall) ahead by a point, setting up his night-ending block. Steckler also ended the second game on a kill.
“That was just the play that needed to be made,” Steckler said of the final point of the night. “Sometimes in those moments you have to play up to the pressure.
“I’m just trying to make the best plays that I can for my team.”
Angel Rodriguez added seven kills for the Buffaloes.
“It was a good match,” Rodriguez said, “We didn’t play our ‘A’ game, but we played amazing.
“They were close games, but we were able to close them out. It was a good fight.”
Manteca’s Jon Rosas dished out 29 assists while Micah Crawford notched five kills and two blocks. Nick Grabowski chipped in three kills and two blocks and Daniel Pedroza had three aces.
The Buffaloes’ biggest lead of the night was at 23-16 in the first set. The Timberwolves (3-1, 6-5) led by five points in both the second and third games.
“Both teams just battled,” Manteca coach Jennifer Reis said. “They don’t let anything drop.
“They put the pressure on you with their serves and their defense.”
The first match was tied at 24-24 and 25-25; the second at 23-23, 24-24 and 25-25 and the third at 23-23.
“I told them that even though we lost to keep their heads up because we could have had any one of those games,” Sierra coach Amy Rosendin said. “And we will be ready for them next time.”
Two of the last five points for the Buffaloes in the third set came on Timberwolves service errors.
“We had no bad serves the first set,” Rosendin said. “In the second set we gave up five points to bad serves. We should have been able to close out that game before they got close to us.
“And in the last one bad serves down the stretch hurt us.”
Brian Huynh led the Sierra attack with nine kills, 15 assists, seven digs, four aces and two blocks. David Caamano added 12 digs, five blocks and a block; Noel Ruezga (seven kills, 12 assists and an ace), Santino Flores (two kills) and Austin Kim (assist) added nine assists apiece; Arsh Dhaliwal had five digs, four kills and two blocks and Ajay Grewal had four blocks, three kills and a dig.
Tuesday at 5 p.m. the Timberwolves host Central Catholic at 6 p.m. Manteca travels to Weston Ranch.
Junior varsity
Manteca 2, Sierra 0
Johan Peringelil led the Buffaloes to a 25-13, 25-11 sweep with five aces and four kills.
Marc Bondoc added five aces, Aidan Patton three blocks and Christian Cardoza two kills.
Xavier Gaspar paced the Timberwolves with six digs and three kills. Bonpatrick Estrella added nine digs, Gurshan Singh seven assists and Owen Altadonna two blocks.
