East Union battled Lodi through the first half of the opening set of Wednesday’s nonleague match on Bill Stricker Court at Dalben Center.

The visiting Flames then went on a 14-1 run and trailed once, by just one point, the rest of the night in a 25-15, 25-17, 25-19 win.

“We are still trying to find a rhythm,” East Union coach Chelsea Herrera said. “We have one player joining the team soon and for now that puts a wrench in everything.

“We are still trying to find the six that gel. We have a lot of girls we just have to find some that work together as a six.”

Lodi improved to 5-2, and Flames coach Brad Friesen linked his team’s success to its serving. Lodi tallied 17 aces.

“I thought we served well,” Friesen said. “That was the biggest key for us. 

“That allows us to get a lot of easy balls coming back – down balls and free balls and things like that – and then we can get the middles involved in our offense. When we do that we are pretty tough to beat.”

Freshman Savannah LeBarre stepped up for the Lancers (0-3), raking 17 digs along with seven kills, an ace and a block. 

“I feel like we maybe could have done a lot better,” LeBarre said. “We played West on Wednesday and they had a girl that was around 6-3 and she could hit the ball straight into the ground and we were able to get a lot of digs on her.

“But we didn’t do as well tonight.”

Marcella Hansen added 12 digs for East Union and Angela Mercardo had 13 assists

Manteca 3, Tokay 2

The Buffaloes (9-2) are on an eight-match winning streak after surging past host Tokay (7-5), 25-16, 16-25, 18-25, 25-11, 15-11.

They rode the hot hand of freshman Isabella George in the fourth set. She served six consecutive points to give Manteca a 13-5 lead.

“It was a huge turning point for us because we got momentum back and it carried over into the last game,” Manteca coach Kevin Bolding said. “She did a great job coming off the bench and giving us a little spark there.”

Kaitlyn Morenzone had a productive night overall, accumulating 13 digs, 10 kills, 15 assists and 17 service points — eight of which went for aces.

Kacy Bolding contributed with eight kills, eight digs, 18 assists and three blocks. Rhiannon Genilla hammered a team-high 14 kills to go with 13 digs. Payton Reis added 11 kills and eight digs, and Emma Kadillak registered 10 digs.

Sophomore

Lodi 2, East Union 0

The Lancers almost force a third game before falling 13-25, 24-26.

Samantha Snyder set well for East Union. Miekayla Surnip worked hard and covered everything and Hailey sims was aggressive in the middle. 

Manteca 2, Tokay 0

In Lodi, the Buffaloes (4-0) won 25-11, 25-18 behind the efforts of Sydnee Navarro (seven points, 11 assists), Abby Arias (five kills), Olga Perez (six digs) and Kerren Zou (14 points, four aces, three kills).

Freshman

Lodi 2, East Union 1

Issa Price had seven service points with three kills and two blocks in a 25-17, 24-26, 9-15 loss. 

Nikki Blair added six service points and a kill, Julienna Padilla five service points and two kills and Danielle James had three assists.