Defense powers Escalon to second straight section volleyball title
Escalon’s preparation for Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section volleyball final against second seed Sonora started two weeks ago. The Cougars began tightening their blocking, which came into play when they needed it most.
Middle Blocker Bella Cormack led the charge on defense with six timely blocks as Escalon won its second straight CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV title, beating the Wildcats, 25-14, 25-22, 25-10.
“(Blocking is) what we’ve been working on, and to see them come in and do what we’ve been practicing and put it into a game situation makes (me) extremely proud.” said coach Teresa Williamson.
After breezing through the first set, the Cougars’ offense went dormant in the second. They went down by five points quickly, prompting an early timeout.
The Escalon attack sputtered out of the gate coming out of the timeout and the Cougars worked their way back into the game, tying it at 13. Two straight blocks from Cormack gave them their first lead of the set and they didn’t look back.
The Wildcats kept the game close, but two straight kills from Amanda Murphy gave Escalon an extra push to finish the game strong.
“Good defense makes our offense a lot quicker,” said Murphy, who finished the game with 10 kills. “We have a lot more options with where we can set and what we can do.”
The Cougars won the third set going away after taking a 13-4 lead and cruising to the section title.
Murphy was on Escalon’s first ever title team in 2019, and made her choice on which section championship felt better to win.
“Last time was more challenging because it was four or five sets and was really close ... (and) we hadn’t won before,” she said. “I was nervous again for this game a little bit, but it felt even sweeter to win two times in a row.”
