Ceres High’s varsity boys volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-23) victory while battling host Los Banos during the opening week of Western Athletic Conference play.
“We communicated really well,” Bulldogs senior standout Cristian Garcia said. “That’s one of the most important factors in playing volleyball.”
Ceres High improved to 5-2 on the year and 1-0 in the WAC standings.
The Tigers dropped to 5-2 and 0-1.
Garcia collected 11 digs, nine kills, one block and one ace versus Los Banos last Thursday.
Christian Murry added 35 digs, 10 kills, one assist and one ace.
Gustavo Hernandez had 19 assists, 12 digs, five kills and two blocks.
Ivan Arita had 16 digs, three kills, one assist and one block.
Fernando Sosa had 13 digs, two blocks, two assists, one kill and one ace.
Christian Martinez had 13 digs.
Freddi Lopez had three digs and one kill.
Daniel Hadwick had three digs.
Alex Garcia had one dig.
The Bulldogs totaled 107 digs against the Tigers.
“We’re able to rally and dig better because our fundamentals increased from last year,” Cristian Garcia said.
CV drops WAC opener
Ahead 21-13 in Game 4 of its Western Athletic Conference home opener versus Livingston, Central Valley’s varsity boys volleyball team was on the verge of forcing a fifth-and-decisive set.
The Wolves fought off four game points on their way to escaping with a 3-1 (25-14, 19-25, 25-18, 26-24) victory over the Hawks Thursday night in Ceres.
“If you don’t execute, that’s what happens,” Central Valley head coach Kelly Heese said. “I’m disappointed. We should have gone five games.”
“It’s a lack of concentration,” Central Valley sophomore standout Erick Martinez added. “We need to keep practicing and working hard.”
Central Valley dropped to 0-7 overall and 0-1 in the WAC standings.
Livingston improved to 9-5 and 1-0.
Martinez filled the stat sheet with five kills, five blocks and five aces.
Ivan Velasquez had seven aces and one block.
Angel Arellano had one kill and one block.
Javier Villanueva had six blocks and two kills.
Central Valley competed shorthanded against Livingston.
Three players were sidelined for unspecified reasons.
“We did well considering we had players playing in positions they usually don’t play,” Heese said. “We had to improvise tonight.”
