Central Catholic volleyball starts slow but picks up key win against VOL rival Oakdale
Monday’s volleyball match with Oakdale didn’t start how Central Catholic hoped.
After coming off two straight league wins last week, the Raiders were in a one-set hole to Valley Oak League opponent Oakdale.
Nevertheless, Central Catholic (12-9, 6-1) overcame the slow start and won three straight sets, beating the rival Mustangs 21-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-15 to keep their hopes at a league title alive.
“We didn’t really bring the energy that (first set),” senior outside hitter McKinley King said. “That’s what kind of makes or breaks the game for us. If we’re low energy, it’s not gonna end well.”
Oakdale (5-6, 4-4) started the match strong and though neither team led by more than five points, the Mustangs capitalized when they needed to and put together a pair of runs to barely beat the VOL’s number two team.
“Energy was a huge thing,” Mustangs’ coach Kaitlyn Burke said. “It’s key we have a lot of communication because being in such a loud gym can really hinder the communication aspect.”
The Raiders regrouped after dropping the first set.
“(My message was) just to play our game and stay steady,” Raiders head coach Michelle Springmeyer said. “Stay composed when we drop a set and make sure we keep our cool and our composure as we head back into the next game.”
After winning the second set, Central Catholic showed it was hitting its stride in the third as the Raiders finished by scoring seven straight points.
“As the game went on, our play got better,” said King, who led the Raiders’ offense with 18 kills. “Our serve receive got better, our blocking got better, we were able to run our middles a lot more and I think that we were just playing smarter.”
Kate Cover ran the Raiders offense with 45 assists and added 11 digs and Raegan Dickens led the team in serving with four aces.
The win marks four straight league victories and keeps Central Catholic in the hunt for the Valley Oak League title. If the Raiders and current No. 1 seed Manteca (19-5, 7-1) win the rest of their games, they could end the regular season as co-champions.
After a league game Wednesday against Sierra, the Raiders play four league games next week, but Springmeyer is keeping things in perspective.
“It’s one at a time, really, it’s really we need to stay focused and not get too far ahead of ourselves,” said the fourth-year coach. “I know (there’s) a lot of talk out there about what’s going to happen and where people are gonna fall and how playoffs are going to go. My message to kids is you just got to take it one at a time you cannot get too far ahead, and we have to earn every single point.”
