Volleyball is back in the Stanislaus District. Here are some teams to look out for
A new volleyball season has started and after some teams took last year’s season off, it is good to know that every program will be in action this fall.
There has been uncertainty among all sports and volleyball is no different. Some teams played more than 10 games, others played two in the spring leaving anticipation for possible parody this season.
“With COVID ... it’s really hard to know who’s going to be good right now.” Turlock head coach Amber Lugo said.
Here are some of the volleyball teams to look out for this season:
Central Catholic
One of the premier programs in the area, Central Catholic reached back-to-back Sac-Joaquin section Division III finals in 2018 and 2019 winning the 2019 title as a No. 2 seed against No. 1 Nevada Union.
The Raiders advanced to the Division II State Regional Finals in 2019.
After finishing 30-9 and 12-0 in the Valley Oak League in 2019, they had a 25-game league win streak snapped last season in the first of two games against Escalon. The Raiders finished the spring with a 1-1 record.
Central Catholic opens its season on Monday with its foundation game against Escalon.
Gregori
One of the historically good programs in the Stanislaus District, Gregori finished the 2019 season with a 21-12 overall record and went 9-1 in League.
The Jaguars made it to the 2019 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I Semifinals but fell to Oak Ridge in straight sets. That same season, they made it to second round of 2019 Division II State tournament by beating Arroyo Grande in five sets.
Gregori enters this season looking to extend a streak of playoff appearances that dates back to at least the 2011-2012 season.
Pitman
Pitman beat Turlock in straight sets to win the 2016 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title but has struggled in the playoffs since, only making it out of the first round once since that run.
Despite a down 2019, the Pride still made the playoffs but fell in the first round to St. Mary’s (Stockton).
The Pride are looking to get back to the 2018 season when they finished with a 9-1 league record and made it to the second round of the section playoffs.
Pitman opened the season with a five-set loss to Buhach Colony and had a match against Merced on Thursday.
Turlock
The Bulldogs are a perennial section and state playoff contender. They won the section championship in 2017 and beat Menlo School in the opening round of the 2017 Open Division State Tournament before falling to Marin Catholic in the next round.
In the last full season, they finished league play 9-1 and advanced the section quarterfinals but fell to eventual section champion St. Francis.
Turlock went 6-0 in the spring season and with playoffs once again in the picture, the Bulldogs look to make a deep push once again this upcoming season.
The Bulldogs kicked their season off on Thursday against Hilmar and will play Oakdale in Monday’s foundation game.
Enochs
After going 9-22 overall in 2018, the Eagles volleyball program has made a complete 180 in recent seasons.
They reached the 2019 section playoffs after winning a five set thriller in the play-in match over Monterey Trail.
Enochs currently has a 4-2 record and sits at 12th in the Sac-Joaquin Section, according to Maxpreps.
Ripon
The Indians prove to be one of the best teams in the Trans Valley League, having finished second for the past three seasons after going 12-0 and winning the section in 2016.
They finished the 2019-20 season 19-6, 9-3 in the Trans Valley League. That was good enough to earn them the number one overall seed in the Division IV Section Playoffs where they were upset by El Dorado in the second round.
Ripon sits just inside the top 20 of the Maxpreps rankings for the Sac-Joaquin Section.
After not playing in the spring, Ripon opened its season with four straight wins and has a record of 4-2.
Hilmar
The Yellowjackets finished the 2019-20 season at the top of the Trans Valley League after going undefeated with a 31-12 overall record.
In 2017 they won the Division IV section title without dropping a set in a playoff run that included beating 10-4 Central Catholic in the second round.
In 2019, the Yellowjackets advanced to the Division III Sac-Joaquin Section Semifinals and the second round of the Division III State Tournament.
Hilmar went 6-3 in the shortened season and had a three season league unbeaten streak end in a five set loss to El Capitan.
They currently sit at 2-4 on the season.
Buhach Colony
The Thunder finished the 2019 season 21-11 overall and 10-2 in league.
They made it to the second round of the Division II section playoffs but fell to No. 1 seed Tracy who didn’t drop a set en route to a section title.
Thought they only played two games in 2020, the one win from the shortened season was a straight sets victory against Hilmar.
The Thunder have a 3-2 record and will play Enochs on September 9.
Escalon
The Cougars come into this season looking to improve on the spring season in which they played 10 total games.
In 2019, Escalon finished the season 31-10 overall and 9-3 in the Trans Valley League and won the Division IV section playoffs as a two seed.
Escalon comes into the season looking for its third top-two league finish since 2015.
The 9-1 Cougars rank in the top 10 in the state and third in the section according to the newest Maxpreps rankings.
Hughson
Hughson’s program is continuing on an upward trend after missing the playoffs in 2018.
Despite making playoffs in 2019-20, the Huskies ended the season on a three-game losing streak that included a first round section playoff loss to Woodland Christian.
Last season, they played 14 games and went 13-1 overall, a perfect 10-0 in the Trans Valley League and ended the season on 11 game win streak.
The Huskies currently sit at 5-3 after beating Johansen on Thursday.
This story was originally published August 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
