The “big three” of Mark Bondoc, Jesus Gomez and Rob Hevener did their usual damage for Valley Oak League-leading Manteca on Friday, but it was the contributions from young up-and-comers that helped the Buffaloes fend off visiting rival Sierra in a hard-fought 20-25, 26-24, 25-18, 27-25 victory.
“We have our big three with Mark, our setter, Rob in the middle and Jesus on the outside, but I felt like a lot of our role players really stepped up tonight,” Manteca coach Jen Reis said. “Logan had one of his best games tonight, defensively and offensively. And Daylen was super active in the middle.
“The way things lined up, of our best players and all of theirs were matched up at the same time, but I think our more inexperienced guys won those battles against theirs.”
Bondoc orchestrated the Manteca (7-0 VOL, 15-6 overall) attack, finishing with 32 assists to go with seven kills, two solo blocks and seven digs. Much of his kills were from well-placed setter dumps that routinely caught Timberwolves (4-2, 12-9 overall) off guard.
“I kind of just have a gut feeling, I’m not going to lie,” Bondoc said. I just know when the ball’s a little tight (to the net), or if my hitters are a little too close, that’s when I let it fly.”
Gomez led all players with 22 kills, the last two coming on the final points of the match. Hevener added seven kills and six blocks, four solo. Alex Khizeran, another sophomore, paced the back row with 21 digs.
“It’s a rivalry game, and there’s a lot of passion in these games,” Gomez said. “When you look at the league table right now, it’s kind of close, but we know that we have to bring it. We have so many guys who are not used to this, so it’s pretty cool to see them step up mid-game.”
Sierra showed its youth and promise over the course of the match. The Timberwolves ended the opening set on a 10-2 run, getting the final two points from senior leaders Landon West on a kill and Owen Altadonna on an ace.
Unforced errors doomed the T’wolves late in the second set, and the mistakes only continued to mount in the third, which ended on a four-touch violation.
To its credit, Sierra threatened to force a fifth set and continued to scrap after losing an early 9-6 lead and falling behind 18-14.
West netted 20 kills and four blocks, while Altadonna turned in 15 kills and 10 blocks (six solo). Thinh Huynh added eight kills, and Yartharth Katyal had six. Sophomore setter Toan Do netted 45 assists and 20 digs. Manolo Asuncion picked up 30 digs.
“I was really proud of them,” Sierra coach Danielle Deerinck said. “They put up a really good fight. We took a set from them, and two of the sets we lost went past 25 (points) — those were great games. I think we had moments where our inexperience did show, but this is a tough match with a big crowd and loud music. I thought they fought through it pretty well.”
East Union 3, Central Catholic 0
The Lancers (4-4 VOL, 9-6 overall) quickly vanquished Central Catholic (0-8, 9-14) at Dalben Center, sweeping, 25-16, 25-18, 25-10.
Gabe Estabillo spearheaded their balanced attack with five kills and four aces. Rohan Sachdeva chipped in four kills and two aces. Marvin Menor produced 15 assists and three digs.
Lathrop 3, Central Valley 0
In Ceres, the Spartans (6-2, 19-6 overall) dominated to a 25-12, 25-12, 25-17 Western Athletic Conference win.
Mario Luna and Jorge Reyes split setting duties, finishing with 15 assists apiece. Gabriel Fa’ali’i fired 14 kills and two aces to go with six digs. Meauta Miller amassed nine kills and two blocks. Marco Palomares pitched in six kills, two aces, two blocks and three digs. Defensive specialist Elias Medel tallied six digs.
Junior varsity
Manteca 2, Sierra 0
The Buffaloes prevailed 25-21, 25-13 to improve to 5-1 in the VOL and 14-4 overall.
Nikko Juarez anchored the front line with five kills and four blocks. Adam Cuevas contributed six assists and 10 service points. Eli Navarro distributed eight assists to go with six service points and three aces.
Lathrop 2, Central Valley 0
Lathrop came out on top of a thriller, 22-25, 25-17, 16-14.
Cayden Phaing led the Spartans with 17 assists and two aces. Jayden White registered seven kills, three aces and one solo blocks. Bryan Gamboa had six kills and an ace. Christopher Ygay turned in four digs.
