The Ripon Christian boys volleyball team had a rough way to go in its first outing Wednesday night, getting swept 19-25, 15-25, 23-25 by visiting Mountain House in non-league action.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of time together as a team,” Knights coach Kevin Tameling said. “With our soccer and basketball team going long and a lot of players involved in that, we have had about a week of practice together, and we added a few more pieces today. We have a new setter that has about five practices in for his career as a setter.

“I thought we did well tonight. We have some good athletes, and they worked hard. Mountain House is a very good team, and they played very well with a dynamic offense, and they really scrapped hard on defense. I was glad that we showed some fight in that third set.”

The Mustangs (3-1) handled the Knights (0-1) easily in the first two sets, with Mountain House leading the entire first set and nearly the entire second set. But Ripon Christian battled in the third set, forcing nine ties and four lead changes.

Mason Tameling led the Knights with 10 kills, and Isaiah Vander Woude added four kills – both had three kills and an ace in the third set. Danny Lambdin dished out 19 assists with Grant Wentworth and Darren Van Groningen each posting two blocks and a kill.

Mountain House dominated the net with 31 team kills to just 18 for Ripon Christian.

“We have really good team morale,” Mustangs coach Michelle Laban said. “They have a good connection with one another.

“They are a very skilled team so it is all about honing in on the team aspect. They have been working all season, especially on the off-season. They play a lot together.”

The Knights travel to Merced to play in the Golden Valley Tournament this weekend and then travel to Newman to open Trans-Valley League play on Tuesday night at 6.