One of the East Union boys volleyball team’s goal this season was to notch its first win in program history over Manteca, the Valley Oak League’s two-time defending champion. That goal was realized Wednesday with a 25-23, 18-25, 25-22, 25-15 win at Winter Gym.
“We never have come out of this gym with a win,” East Union coach Chelsea Herrera said. “And that is one of thing the boys were striving for. They wanted to start this round off with a win.
“We got a little lazy in one game and made some very big mental mistakes but we refocused and came back.”
Leading two games to one and 21-15 in the fourth, Alec Alegre (10 kills, four blocks) notched two big blocks in a 4-0 run to end the set and secure the match for the Lancers (2-1 VOL, 5-4 overall).
“I just really try to get up and try and get the blocks,” Alegre said. “I try to get up there as fast as I can and it feels really good when I do it and the whole team gets really pumped up.”
Jacob Lill had a good all-around game for East Union with 11 assists, four blocks, three kills and three digs.
“I feel like if I can plug myself in anywhere it can help the team,” Lill said. “And beating Manteca is something we came into the season wanting to do and we accomplished that.”
Parmbir Khattra dished out 30 assists and had three kills for the Lancers. Flavio Mercado added 10 kills, Jonathan Castaneda had seven kills and two aces and Austin Scott chipped in five kills and three aces.
That two-point first-set loss stung for the Buffaloes (1-2, 3-5) as Manteca stumbled at the service line.
“We had five service errors in that first game,” Buffaloes coach Kevin Bolding Jr. said. “And that was the difference in that first game.
“The second game was probably our only complete game. We passed well, hit the ball pretty well — that was our best all-around game.”
The Buffaloes took a 5-0 lead in the third game and did not trail until East Union took the lead at 13-12 as part of 9-1 run that ended at 17-13.
“We were ahead in the third game and just fell apart,” Bolding Jr. said. “And it was all about ball control. We have to control the ball and cut down on errors. Once we do that we will be pretty good but we have to do that first.”
Alejandro Tornero paced Manteca with nine kills and two aces. Steven Aguilar had 14 digs and an ace, Rovick Hombrebueno (kill, ace) dished out 14 assists, Oscar Anaya had four kills and Jeremy Gabriel made three blocks and two kills.
 
Junior varsity
Manteca 2, East Union 0
Bryan Alvarez tallied eight kills for the Buffaloes in their 25-23, 25-13 win.
Daniel Pedroza pounded out five aces for Manteca and Alex Padilla had 15 assists.
Marco Galvan paced the Lancers with four kills. Gavin Silva (ace) and Moises Gonzalez (block) added two kills each and Omar Lopez (two aces) had one kill. Jyrus Faustilla and Jaime Ornellas added an ace apiece.