LATHROP — With Mary Cotton dominating at the net and Harjass Kaur patrolling the back line, Lathrop dominated visiting East Union for three sets Monday on the way to a 25-20, 25-11, 25-21 sweep to open Valley Oak League volleyball play.
“Every year I schedule a tough non-league schedule with the intent of preparing us for the VOL,” Spartans coach Heather Anderson said. “Though our non-league record might not have looked great we are battle tested.
“We came out hyped up for East Union because last year we lost the first league match in five at their place. We were still thinking about it from last year.”
Cotton had 10 kills and six blocks.
“Coach was telling me to snap my wrist and get on top of the ball,” Cotton said. “And after I did that it worked.”
In the second set with the Lancers (0-1 VOL, 1-4 overall) battling Lathrop (1-0, 2-3) to three ties through the first three points, Kaur (five aces, nine digs) stepped to the service line and ran off nine consecutive points behind a pair of aces. 
“All I was thinking of was to see where the spots were empty and serve it straight there,” Kaur said.
Karina Chavez had 20 assists, 11 digs and an ace for the Spartans and Avleen Kaur withced positions to end up with nine kills.
“Today I got switched to play outside instead of my normal middle and right-side position,” Avleen Kaur said. “And I adapted as well as I could and played my hardest.”
Kiana Day had three kills, three aces four assists and a block for East Union, and Ragan Fowzer had four blocks and two aces.
Lancers coach Chelsea Herrera had problems getting her players to the right spots, but in the third game things clicked a little more for East Union fought back from a 13-6 deficit to tie the game at 18, 19 and 21 only for the Spartans to close the game out on a 4-0 run.
“I had to find a setter that could put the ball where it needed to go,” Herrera said. “We had some mental breakdowns, especially those first two games.
“It was just an off night for us. Literally, the entire team was off.” 

Sophomore
East Union 2, Lathrop 0
Sam Snyder had 10 aces and eight assists to pace the Lancers to the 25-12, 25-15 win.
Miekayla Surnip added four kills and four digs and Melissa Scogna had seven kills.

Freshman
East Union 2, Lathrop 0
The Spartans bounced back from a 16-25 loss to fall just short in the second set, 23-25.
Alejandra Rodriguez had five assists for the Lancers. Danielle James and Leilani Vilaria each had a kill and two assists and Nicole Blair had three aces.