CERES — Lathrop High’s girls volleyball team got off to a running start in its inaugural season in the Western Athletic Conference, thumping Ceres 25-17, 25-20, 25-14 Thursday.
It’s the third straight win, all of them sweeps, for the Spartans (1-0, 3-2), who head to Los Banos next Tuesday to face Pacheco. They scored the first 10 points of the match before Ceres (0-1, 0-6) mounted a comeback.
“We came out on fire, and maybe we got too comfortable and made it closer than it needed to be,” Lathrop coach Heather Anderson said. “We’re still trying to find our home in the WAC, so it’s a weird dynamic of playing a league game against an unfamiliar opponent. It will take some time.”
Karina Chavez served nine straight points at the outset and finished with three aces to go with 27 assists and two kills.
“She may have only had three aces, but her placement on the court was amazing,” Anderson said. “She made them work really hard on serve receive.”
Jahsita Fa’alii led the attack with 15 kills and three aces. Jordan Corner and Avleen Kaur added seven kills apiece.

Manteca 3, Bear Creek 1
Manteca (8-1) shook off a shaky start and upended the Bruins (5-4) of Stockton, 23-25, 25-12, 25-12, 25-19.
“They’re a good team, but we had quite a few errors in the first game,” Buffaloes coach Kevin Bolding said. “We cut those down and it was totally different after that. Our defense and passing was a night-and-day difference.”
The Buffs had several contributors in the win, including Kaitlyn Morenzone (six kills, 17 assists, seven digs), Kacy Bolding (nine kills, 23 assists, four aces), Payton Reis (nine kills), Kaylee MacDannald (six kills, two blocks), Emma Kadillak (12 digs) Abbey Kadillak (23 digs) and Karlie Spohn (five kills).
Manteca will take a six-match win streak into its Valley Oak League opener against Oakdale next Tuesday.

Weston Ranch 3, McNair 0
STOCKTON — The Cougars (6-1) claimed their sixth straight win, 25-22, 25-19, 26-24.
McNair (1-3) threatened to extend the match with a 24-19 lead in the third set before Adriana Martinez went on a seven-point service run to seal it.
Julianna Lassiter churned out 17 kills, Senecia Patten chipped in four kills and five blocks and Jennie Tern anchored the defensive back row.

Sierra 3, Franklin 0
The Timberwolves (3-2) made it two wins in three days with a 25-8, 25-9, 25-21 sweep of the visiting Yellowjackets (0-7).
Stella Brierly tallied 11 kills and seven aces for Sierra. Ashlee Matteroli chipped in 23 assists and nine aces and Kylie Machado had 10 digs.

TENNIS
Manteca 9, Weston Ranch 0
The Buffaloes (2-0 VOL, 5-0 overall) made quick work of visiting Weston Ranch.
Winning singles matches were Julia Tang (6-0, 6-2), Sahiba Kaur (6-0, 6-0), Makenna Condit (6-1, 6-0), Navina Mann (6-0, 6-1), Kerren Zou (6-0, 6-0) and Yanki Ma (6-0, 6-1).
Doubles winners were Noeli Mercado/Melisssa Poncini, Isabella Huerta/Danielle Diaz (6-1, 6-0) and Charleen Magdayalog/Kalissa Martin (6-0, 6-3).

Central Catholic 6, Sierra 3
MODESTO — Central Catholic’s Colleen Ballatore defeated reigning VOL singles champion Kaitlyn Rausa, 6-3, 7-5.
Nadia Petrovic (6-2, 6-3), Melanie Nguyen (6-4, 3-6, 6-0) and Joyce Sebastian (1-6, 6-1, 6-3) won at Nos. 2-4 singles for the Timberwolves. Central was able to get key points in the competitive No. 5 singles match, which went three sets, and at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles.

JV volleyball
Franklin 2, Sierra 0
The Timberwolves nearly extended it to three games but came up short 12-25, 22-25.
Jenna Villanueva had three kills four digs for Sierra.  Genavieve Gaines dished out 19 assists and
Renee Hamilton and Leilani Fabian had three and four kills, respectively.
 
East Union 2, Edison 0
Danielle James racked up four aces behind 12 service points along three assists to lead the Lancers to a 25-18, 25-19 win.
Julieanna Padilla chipped in four kills and three aces for East Union with Nicole Blair getting two kills and two aces, Leilani Viloria two kills, Alivia Gordon an ace, Celeste Guerrero a kill and Alejandra Rodriguez and Isabella Price an assist apiece.

Lathrop 2, Ceres 0
Sydney Hanks blasted six kills, while Ke’mya Barnett added four to lead Lathrop’s 25-13, 25-13 victory.
Hailey Hunter dished out 13 assists.

Frosh volleyball
East Union 2, Edison 0
Catrina Kieth had five aces to pace the Lancers in their 25-22, 25-16 win.
Riley Lopez added two kills and two assists for East Union and Kaitlyn Reyes had three assists and an ace. Taylor Theiss had an ace and a kill and Jenessa Godoy posted a pair of kills.

Ceres 2, Lathrop 0
The Spartans fell, 18-25, 19-25.
Layla Pereira-Watson and Lylliana Avila each paced Lathrop with two aces and a kill. Natalie Sayasane had three assists.