Central Valley High School's varsity volleyball team had its hands full during the first game of last week's matchup with crosstown-rival Ceres High.

The Hawks erased an eight-point deficit en route to securing a hard-fought 25-20, 25-17, 25-13 victory over the upset-minded Bulldogs on Sept. 29 at Central Valley.

"We didn't start off well," Hawks head coach Kelly Heese said. "We were making silly mistakes. I called timeout and got that under control. Once we started to run our offense, they couldn't shut us down."

Julia Ramsey led Central Valley with 15 kills, 11 aces and four blocks.

Ellysa Widas collected 23 assists.

Adria Robinson had four kills and one block.

The Hawks fell behind 9-1 in the opening game.

"We weren't playing like a team at all," Heese said. "We settled down and ran our offense. Ceres has some strong players. They always play us tougher than they play everyone else."

Central Valley beat host Patterson 25-16, 25-10, 25-23 on Thursday.

The Hawks compiled a 2-1 record against the Tigers in 2014.

Ramsey collected eight kills and two blocks during last week's matchup.

Alyssa Costa had six kills.

Marissa Camarillo added four kills and one block.

"We barely utilized Julia in that match and we still beat them," Heese said. "We just played solid ball all the way around. We worked very well together."

The WAC will send three teams to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs in November.

Central Valley made history last fall by securing its first-ever postseason berth.

The Hawks (4-1) remained in a tie for second place in the WAC standings with Los Banos after sweeping Patterson (2-3) and Ceres High (0-5).

Central Valley will begin the second half of the conference season on Oct. 13 against host Pacheco.

"You got to stay focused and play harder the second time around," Heese said. "Nothing is set in stone."