Trailing 17-12 in the third set Thursday, host River Islands rode the hot hands of sisters Milyn and Ada Morales to outscore East Union 13-4 down the stretch on the way to a 25-9, 25-15, 25-21 non-league girls volleyball sweep.

Ada Morales (five aces, 14 kills) tallied three kills in the last six points for the Riptide (11-2).

“My sister and I played well together,” Ada Morales said. “Really, the whole team played well together.”

Milyn Morales (four aces, 12 kills) dished out two aces among her sister’s final three kills.  

“In that last set, we got to a tie game, and my focus was on getting the ball over,” Milyn Morales said. “I think we did great job on defense and putting the ball away.”

Ada Morales posted two aces and a kill down the stretch.

Corley Simoni’s kill gave River Islands a 24-21 third-set lead for the Riptide’s seventh consecutive point. The setter, Simoni ended up with three kills and two aces.

“Putting the ball up there for our hitters to go crush is really fun,” Simoni said. “They did amazing today. I thought they did really well.”

The Lancers (3-9) led most of the third set until an Ada Morales kill put River Islands ahead for good at 22-21.

“We started to believe in ourselves in that third set,” East Union coach Tevani Liotard said. “We were letting them make the errors.

“I juggled the lineup a little bit. Jill Ramirez came in and played some really good defense, and I think that helped.”

Lilyan Frye made three kills and two assists for the Lancers. East Union’s Kennedy McCleod added three blocks and an ace with five digs for Jocelyn Pena and five assists for Lily Grove.

The Riptide travels to Weston Ranch tonight at 6:15, and next Tuesday the Lancers travel to Oakdale at 6:30 p.m.

Junior varsity

East Union 2, River Islands 0

Kadence Rossi hammered five kills and Elle Ballista posted five digs for the Lancers in a 25-23, 25-17 sweep.

East Union’s Emily Pires dished out seven assists with four digs and Camile Christensen had two blocks.

The Riptide’s Bella Shepherd tallied five digs.

Freshmen

East Union 2, River Islands 1

The Lancers bounced back from a 20-25 first-set loss to win the match with 25-13, 15-4 wins in the second and third sets. Janelle Lopez (three aces, four kills) delivered the last eight service points for the Lancers in the final game.

East Union’s Jesabel Teran pounded nine kills with three kills for Regina Villela-Lara and seven assists for Ariana Mercado.