Central Valley’s boys volleyball team won one of its two matches last week.
Ceres High posted a 1-1 record versus league competition.
The Hawks snapped a 12-match losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Gregori Jaguars in non-conference play Friday evening in Modesto.
“Overall, we played one of our better games of the season,” said Central Valley Coach Ryan Donnelly. “I’m just glad we got the win. It’s a good confidence booster.”
The Hawks improved to 2-15 on the season.
Central Valley won for the first time since defeating Orestimba 3-1 on March 1.
“They worked well together. The communication was good. And we executed what we wanted to do.”
The Hawks dominated the first two sets versus the Jaguars.
Gregori avoided getting swept by winning the third set.
The Hawks prevented the Jaguars from forcing a winner-take-all fifth set.
Central Valley bounced back after Donnelly changed his lineup.
“I’m not surprised. I had a feeling we were going to close it out in the fourth set. Being up 2-1, there wasn’t as much pressure. We limited our mistakes and played to our potential.”
Central Valley dropped to 0-7 in the Central California Conference after losing 3-0 at second-place Merced on Wednesday.
The Hawks never posed a threat against the Bears (20-6, 6-1).
“Merced is a really good team as far as all aspects of the game."
“We weren’t getting after it like we should have,” he added. The energy was not there.”
Central Valley will play fifth-place Buhach Colony and third-place Patterson this week.
Central Valley lost 3-0 at Buhach Colony on March 8.
Patterson defeated Central Valley 3-0 on March 13 in Ceres.
“I know how we’re capable of playing,” said Donnelly. “Our two biggest areas we need to work on are communication and receiving. We also need to clean up on our setting and hitting.”
Ceres High shut out visiting Beyer 3-0 (25-13, 25-23, 25-18) on Thursday at Phil de la Porte Gymnasium.
The final two sets were competitive.
“It shouldn’t have been as close of a match,” Coach Kelly Heese said. “I got five seniors with four years of experience under their belt. Beyer doesn’t have the experience yet. But they have a great coach. She has a lot of knowledge of the game.”
The third-place Bulldogs improved to 7-4 overall and 5-4 in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
The last-place Patriots dropped to 1-8 and 1-7.
Ceres High remained in the hunt for a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berth.
The WAC will send three teams to the playoffs at the end of the regular season.
The Bulldogs went 2-17 and placed last in conference play with a 1-14 mark in 2022.
“It’s complete night and day,” Heese said. “They’re more locked in this year. They matured. It’s part of the process. It takes a while to build trust with your players.”
“I’ve only been here for two years,” she added. “It’s nice to see the progress. The hard work we’re putting in is paying off.”
Isaiah De La Torre led Ceres High with 19 assists, four kills, three aces and two digs.
David Flores totaled 21 digs.
Andre Pina tallied 15 kills.
Izaiah Rodriguez had 14 digs.
Ethan Oiterong had nine digs, three kills and two aces.
Manny Ortega had four kills and two digs.
Faiva Tuakalau had three aces and one kill.
Gio Sio had two kills and one ace.
Bo Moring had one kill and one block.
Ceres High lost 3-1 (25-16, 25-14, 23-25, 25-15) at Lathrop on March 28.
The Spartans (14-5, 8-1) have the second-best team in the WAC.
Pina led the Bulldogs with five kills and two blocks.
Tuakalau had two kills and two blocks.
Oiterong had two kills and one ace.
Ortega had two blocks and one kill.
De La Torre had one block and one dig.
Heese didn’t coach against Lathrop. She had to sit out a game after being ejected for questioning several calls during Ceres High’s 3-1 conference win at Grace Davis on March 24.
It marked just the second time Heese’s been ejected from a match during her 22 years of coaching.
“I was trying to get my point across. I was respectful. I wasn’t yelling.”
