MODESTO — Welcome to the playoffs, or at least a taste of the playoff experience.
Manteca ventured into a hostile gym Thursday night, and between the raucous, highly-partisan crowd and Central Catholic freshman phenom Abby Castillon, who hammered out 18 kills with two blocks, the Buffaloes never quite got in step and lost the battle for first place in the Valley Oak League, 17-25, 17-25, 21-25. 
“She (Castillon) is amazing,” Raiders coach Michelle Springmeyer said. “She has really embraced the role she has been given and she is great all the way around.
“She has really been embraced by the girls. In some other environments it might be kind of tough to step into that role but they are all working really well together.”
The reigning champion Buffaloes (7-2 VOL, 15-4 overall) appeared shell shocked to start the match, falling down by as much as 21-9 in the first set.
“It was a good environment,” Manteca coach Kevin Bolding said. “But we just never found our rhythm in any of the games. Not to take anything away from them, I thought they played really well, but we just didn’t have our `A' game tonight. And against good teams you have to have that `A' game.
“Hopefully we learn from it and we can get ready for the playoffs and have another environment like this.”
Castillon’s 18 kills almost eclipsed Manteca’s team total of 20, and Central Catholic (9-0, 24-2) doubled the Buffaloes efforts with 40 kills overall.
The second and third games were much more competitive with 11 ties and seven lead changes.
Kaitlyn Morenzone (seven kills, seven digs, six assists) gave Manteca a 20-18 lead in the third game with a kill, but all the Buffaloes could manage the rest of the way is a kill by Karlie Spohn (four kills, two blocks).
Emma Kadillak was busy for the Buffaloes with 20 kills. Kacy Bolding added nine digs, 11 assists and four kills; Olga Perez had five digs and Kyaira Jacobs had four digs.
 
Junior Varsity
Central Catholic 2, Manteca 0
Adriana Powell had nine digs and three service points for the Buffaloes in an 18-25, 18-21 loss.
Arielle Chandler had eight assists for Manteca, Katelyn Gross had four kills and Hannah Ender had three kills.