Since losing their only league contest to Stone Ridge Christian just over two weeks ago, the Turlock Christian Eagles varsity volleyball team has been on a winning streak—six to be exact—after edging out Stone Ridge at home on Tuesday in a 3-1 win, [25-21, 22-25, 25-23 and 25-18].
“I know that we did not want to lose back-to-back to Stone Ridge so coming into this one we knew we had to keep the spirits high,” said TC head coach Pam Franco. “The girls knew they had it and they had to execute and they did.”
“We knew we had to play together as a team because the first time we played Stone Ridge we were not playing as well,” said TC’s Abbie Morelli, who finished with 12 kills. “We knew we had to make changes with each other and come in with energy and confidence.”
TC’s confidence and energy was apparent on Tuesday night in their penultimate league contest at home.
To stay in contention for a Central California Athletic Association title the Eagles of TC were in a must-win contest.
The Eagles performed up to their standards, reversing the previous outcome—but not the score—over Stone Ridge.
In the first game, both sides battled and it was TC which edged out Stone Ridge with a four-point victory.
TC fell in the second by three points before winning the next two outright.
Nicky Sanders finished with a game-high 18 kills to go with her 18 digs in Tuesday’s game, while Tatiana Fabila finished with a team-high 19 assists as well as 18 digs and five ace serves.
“I thought we did fabulous. We just said one point at a time, and we knew we could not look ahead, just one point each and that is what they did,” said Franco. “They never gave up on that; it was a very big step for them.”
With a two-point win in the third game it looked like Stone Ridge was still in contention before both sides went at it for a lengthy and physical fourth game.
The excitement was evident from both sides, however, it was TC which leaped out early in the fourth, taking a large nine-point lead during the game.
Stone Ridge pulled within five before TC called their final timeout and with the help of great serving the Eagles clinched their 20th victory of the season to go to 10-1 in the CCAA, going on a 7-5 run.
“The fight was harder and granted we were at home and the crowd helped us build it up and we kept things positive and motivating for most of the game with positive spirits,” said TC’s Mikayla Yagi.
TC had only one ball handling error all game long.
“We definitely knew that we had to come in and win and we brought our intensity and ‘A’ game this time around because in order to win league we had to win this game,” said Morelli.
TC’s next game will be senior night and their final game of the regular season. With a win, TC will be the CCAA winners, but a loss would result in a tiebreaker.
“We need to come in confident and not cocky because we know we beat them the first time so we just need to bring the same intensity and same teamwork that we did to win the first time,” Morelli added.
TC will face off against Big Valley Christian at 6 p.m. Thursday on their home court at Calvary Baptist Church.
