Before Tuesday night’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff match at Monterey Trail in Elk Grove, Pitman High volleyball coach Kristen Pontes promised her team ice cream if her players pulled off the upset win.By the end of the night, they savored all different sorts of flavors.They also enjoyed a piece of history, as the No. 10 Pride knocked off No. 7 Monterey Trail in four sets (25-23, 21-25, 25-20, 25-14) on the road for Pitman’s first-ever playoff victory. This is also the first time the Pride are playing in D-I.“It’s awesome to start something new with Pitman volleyball,” Pontes said. “I think we’re going to keep it going. I think we’re going to keep getting better and better.”The coach also added that her Pride played an all-around game, with Annabel Perez (18 assists, four aces), Maci Murdock (nine kills, five blocks) and Ashley Solis (10 digs) leading the way.Pontes also credited the team’s defense, saying “the defense came alive tonight and they played really well.”The Pride will move on to Thursday’s quarterfinals to face either St. Mary’s High or Modesto High, with the score of that match unavailable at press time. Pitman also has something else to look forward to: Murdock will sign her letter of intent to play for Fresno State today as part of National Signing Day.Other local signings include Turlock’s Kevin Kramer to UCLA for baseball and Turlock’s Kayla Schumann to Northwest Nazarene University for women’s basketball. Turlock water polo falls in playoffs For three periods, the Turlock High boys water polo team kept it interesting in the Bulldogs’ quarterfinal match against Oak Ridge High on Tuesday morning at Tokay High. But it wasn’t enough.The Trojans rallied in the fourth to beat Turlock 8-7, ending another standout year for longtime coach Steve Feaver and his Bulldogs. After falling behind 6-5 to end the third, Oak Ridge had a 3-1 fourth quarter to win the match and move on.But the Bulldogs are ending the season with plenty to celebrate.They captured the Central California Conference title with an undefeated 10-0 record (only the fourth time in school history) and surpassed the first-round of the playoffs with a 17-5 walloping of Napa High last week.“It is sometimes hard to look past a single-elimination game,” Feaver said. “But we feel good about the fact that we went undefeated in the CCC, played two Section playoff games and finished the season with a 21-7 record.”For the Turlock girls didn’t fare so well in their tournament, as they lost a 6-4 heartbreaker to Tokay High in the first round of the Division I.To contact Chhun Sun, e-mail csun@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.
Pitman volleyball win first playoff match
