The Spartans faced a tall order Monday against Ripon Christian.
The visiting Knights had 6-foot-8 outside hitter Cade Alger and 6-4 middle blocker Drew Van Vliet.
“It was a challenge to hit around them,” said Lathrop High coach Heather Anderson.
Her team responded by winning the best-of-five match in four games, 25-14, 25-18, 23-25, 26-24.
The Spartans (9-0) were led by senior Gabriel Gutierrez, who came away with 20 kills, seven aces, and two blocks.
“He enjoys playing the game,” said Anderson of her returning outside hitter. “He’ll play (volleyball) whenever and where ever he can.”
Sophomore setter Rael Carmesis delivered 38 assists, two aces and a block while senior outside hitter Tyler Riggleman connected on 18 kills and an ace.
Mark Fabian and Sergio Tapia, in addition, both had two kills in Lathrop’s hard-fought win.
The Spartans are 1-0 in the Western Athletic Conference and will return to league play today at Ceres.
Ripon Christian dropped to 3-2.
Softball
Manteca 7, Escalon 6
Mohrgen Kissee came through with a two-out walk-off hit to lead the Buffaloes past the Cougars on Monday.
Manteca (3-0) rallied back after being down 5-0 at one point.
“This was a great win,” said Buffaloes coach Josh Farris. “Our girls showed great resilience against a very good Escalon team.”
He blamed sloppiness on the field for his team’s rough start.
“I’m proud of the girls for continuing to keep fighting for the win,” Farris added.
Kissee had three hits to lead the way including two RBI. Karlie Spohn had two hits and drove in a pair.
Kaylee MacDannald also chipped in with a double and two RBI.
Alyssah Harnden pitched all seven innings, scattering 10 hits while giving up three earned runs.
Ripon 15,
Weston Ranch 2
RIPON – The Indians (3-0) took care of the visiting Cougars (1-2) rather handily in the non-league game on Monday.
Weston Ranch will host Franklin on Wednesday.
Delhi 13, Lathrop 12
The Spartans (0-2) suffered their second setback to the Hawks Monday.
They suffered a lopsided loss to Delhi last week.
Isabel Terra was Lathrop’s big hitter. She was 3 for 4 at the plate with a three-run home run and four RBI.
Joselyn Hurtado also went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI.
Hailey Hunter and Bella Campos-Rankin were both 2 for 4 while Alina Fuentes, Bryanna Alarcon, and Emma Grisham had a single and RBI each.
RC 16,
Central Catholic 12
The Knights played catch-up through most of this non-league game against visiting Central Catholic on Monday.
They fought back to finally surge ahead with a five-run sixth inning and relied on defense to help preserve the win.
Ripon Christian (1-0) ended the game with freshman leftfielder Serina Bogan making a diving grab. Earlier, Natalie Mendes, a sophomore right fielder, made a great grab to prevent at least runs from scoring, according to Knights coach Lenny Rizzuto.
Central Catholic (0-3) jumped out to the early lead, scoring five times in the first and adding four more in the second and two in the third.
Ripon Christian kept pace with three in the first, five in the second and one in the third.
Down 12-9 after four innings, the Cougars pulled to within a run in the fifth and surged ahead with a big sixth inning.
Sarah Brown, who came in relief of starter Madison DeGraaf, scattered three hits in her four innings of work. She walked one and had one strikeout to earn the victory.
Morgan Van Elderen went 4 for 4 at the plate with three RBI and scored twice. Junior catcher Elizabeth Thomas was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI.
Junior first baseman Rebecca Postmus went 1-3 with an RBI. She’s newest edition of the Knights, having transferred from Stoneridge Christian – the reason for that, according to Rizzuto was her family recently moving from Ceres to Ripon.
