The Madera Coyotes girls volleyball team is the odds-on favorite to win the County/Metro Athletic Conference and started the run with a four-set victory over the Sanger Apaches.
“We haven’t been in this position where we’re favored to win the league,” head coach Meghan Haas said. “We’re not going to have to change what we do to defend other teams. They are going to have to try to stop us.”
Led by outside hitter Katelyn Siegl and middle blocker Hallie Page, the Coyotes outscored Sanger 75-38 in the three sets they won (25-15, 25-10, 25-13). However, the Coyotes stumbled in the third set, losing 25-19.
“I feel good,” Haas said about the win. “I was disappointed last night. I don’t want to take anything away from the win. We didn’t play that well. That’s good and bad. We beat Sanger bad, but didn’t play well. We expected them to give us the game, but didn’t take it. We played well, but I also think Sanger didn’t play well. We stayed on them and they weren’t able to do anything else.”
With CMAC just starting, the Coyotes are looking for a run through league for a title and a playoff run.
“We still have some work in serve receive,” Haas said. “When we play well, we’re going to be hard to beat. If we’re passing and serve receive, we should be tough to beat.”
The Coyotes will play at San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno on Tuesday and host Edison-Fresno on Thursday.