LATHROP — No playoff berth, no problem.
With a postseason bid well beyond its reach this late in the season, Lathrop High’s fledgling volleyball program still had reason to get up for Thursday’s Valley Oak League match with Manteca.
Five players were honored on Senior Night, the first-ever celebrated by the team, and they had revenge in mind.
The Spartans nearly got it.
They had match point in their favor but ended up losing a five-game heartbreaker — 15-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 14-16 — to Manteca, which defeated Lathrop in five on Oct. 5 after falling behind two games to none.
“It’s a tough break, definitely,” Lathrop coach Nicole Unrein said. “To have it at game point in Game 5 and not get that win is kind of a bummer. But I know the girls are proud of themselves, and I am too because they battled so hard.”
What started out as a sloppy volleyball match ended with a series of nail-biting rallies late in the contest.
Manteca coach Tim Horning was glad to see it end on a positive note.
His Buffaloes (4-9, 5-13 overall) were on the brink of losing, trailing 13-14 before a Lathrop hitting error knotted it.
The last two points of the match were earned.
Dallas Mould (5 kills, 3 blocks) swatted a well-placed hit along the right sideline to give Manteca the lead, and she struck again with the clinching kill that was set up by Jessica Howard’s diving dig and one of Tara Dadasovich’s 28 assists.
“Howard saved that one,” Horning said. “Ending it with us earning the point as opposed to them giving it to us was great for us. For the most part there were a lot of errors on both sides of the net.”
The errors piled up for long stretches.
After taking the fourth game, Lathrop was unable to feed off that momentum early in the fifth, as Manteca jumped out to a 9-3 lead following a kill from Jimi Guibor. Guibor finished with a match-high eight kills.
But the Spartans countered with an 8-1 run capped by a block from Erica Sanchez (5 kills, 4 blocks, 4 tips).
If there was one constant for Manteca it was the outstanding serving of Dadasovich. The senior setter amassed 23 service points and seven aces. She had two big serving runs in the pivotal third game in which Manteca started out with an 8-1 lead but later trailed 12-14.
“We were living off Tara’s serve,” Horning said. “If Tara wasn’t serving the way that she did we might have lost this. In that third game we weren’t scoring points in any other rotation — it was all Tara.”
Also standing out for Manteca was libero Abigail Rosas, who recorded 21 digs. Lathrop got big contributions from Britney Rallios (14 digs), Cecelia Lopez (6 kills, 12 service points, 8 digs), Janel Butler (22 assists, 14 points) and Blessie Caro (4 kills).
Both squads end the season next Tuesday, with Manteca playing host to first-year varsity Kimball and Lathrop heading to Weston Ranch.
“I’m not going to be sad or anything (about the loss), I mean we played really hard and rallied at the end,” said middle blocker Krystal Ruiz, one of the five seniors recognized Thursday. “We just have to get ourselves together for Weston Ranch.”
Lathrop improved to 4-9 in league, while Manteca dropped to that same mark.
Manteca was led by Samantha Morris (5 kills), Jasmine Odell (5 kills), Julia Martinez (4 blocks, Jessica Munoz (10 service points, 3 aces) and Ashley Gase (4 digs).
With a postseason bid well beyond its reach this late in the season, Lathrop High’s fledgling volleyball program still had reason to get up for Thursday’s Valley Oak League match with Manteca.
Five players were honored on Senior Night, the first-ever celebrated by the team, and they had revenge in mind.
The Spartans nearly got it.
They had match point in their favor but ended up losing a five-game heartbreaker — 15-25, 25-18, 20-25, 25-20, 14-16 — to Manteca, which defeated Lathrop in five on Oct. 5 after falling behind two games to none.
“It’s a tough break, definitely,” Lathrop coach Nicole Unrein said. “To have it at game point in Game 5 and not get that win is kind of a bummer. But I know the girls are proud of themselves, and I am too because they battled so hard.”
What started out as a sloppy volleyball match ended with a series of nail-biting rallies late in the contest.
Manteca coach Tim Horning was glad to see it end on a positive note.
His Buffaloes (4-9, 5-13 overall) were on the brink of losing, trailing 13-14 before a Lathrop hitting error knotted it.
The last two points of the match were earned.
Dallas Mould (5 kills, 3 blocks) swatted a well-placed hit along the right sideline to give Manteca the lead, and she struck again with the clinching kill that was set up by Jessica Howard’s diving dig and one of Tara Dadasovich’s 28 assists.
“Howard saved that one,” Horning said. “Ending it with us earning the point as opposed to them giving it to us was great for us. For the most part there were a lot of errors on both sides of the net.”
The errors piled up for long stretches.
After taking the fourth game, Lathrop was unable to feed off that momentum early in the fifth, as Manteca jumped out to a 9-3 lead following a kill from Jimi Guibor. Guibor finished with a match-high eight kills.
But the Spartans countered with an 8-1 run capped by a block from Erica Sanchez (5 kills, 4 blocks, 4 tips).
If there was one constant for Manteca it was the outstanding serving of Dadasovich. The senior setter amassed 23 service points and seven aces. She had two big serving runs in the pivotal third game in which Manteca started out with an 8-1 lead but later trailed 12-14.
“We were living off Tara’s serve,” Horning said. “If Tara wasn’t serving the way that she did we might have lost this. In that third game we weren’t scoring points in any other rotation — it was all Tara.”
Also standing out for Manteca was libero Abigail Rosas, who recorded 21 digs. Lathrop got big contributions from Britney Rallios (14 digs), Cecelia Lopez (6 kills, 12 service points, 8 digs), Janel Butler (22 assists, 14 points) and Blessie Caro (4 kills).
Both squads end the season next Tuesday, with Manteca playing host to first-year varsity Kimball and Lathrop heading to Weston Ranch.
“I’m not going to be sad or anything (about the loss), I mean we played really hard and rallied at the end,” said middle blocker Krystal Ruiz, one of the five seniors recognized Thursday. “We just have to get ourselves together for Weston Ranch.”
Sophomore
Lathrop 2, Manteca 1
Cherubine Consul came up with some big serves, while Jocelyn Aranda anchored Lathrop’s offense in the Spartans’ three-game (14-25, 25-21, 15-13) comeback victory.Lathrop 2, Manteca 1
Lathrop improved to 4-9 in league, while Manteca dropped to that same mark.
Manteca was led by Samantha Morris (5 kills), Jasmine Odell (5 kills), Julia Martinez (4 blocks, Jessica Munoz (10 service points, 3 aces) and Ashley Gase (4 digs).
