Two days before the Madera South Stallions battled the Liberty Hawks girls volleyball team, three seniors quit the team.
The Stallions had one day to adjust, and face a pretty formidable Hawks team that returned a lot of starters from the year before.
The match went like it was expected with the Hawks defeating the Stallions, 25-19, 25-11, 25-20. However, Madera South head coach Sharalyn Hernandez was happy about her team’s attitude on the court and the way they competed.
None of the numbers favored the Stallions, and it was not even close. The Hawks put down 32 kills with 14 aces. Meanwhile, the Stallions only had 14 kills and four aces.
However, the Stallions did cut down on hitting errors with 20, the same as Liberty.
London Patton on the outside and Joni Vasquez on the inside proved too much for the Stallions. Patton led the Hawks with 10 kills while Vasquez had eight. Ten different Hawks put down a kill in the match. Patton also served up four aces.
Meanwhile, the Stallions only had five players with kills, but only one with more than three. Maria Hernandez led the Stallions with eight kills.
Two Hernandez kills kept the beginning of the match close. The Hawks got two side out kills from Vasquez, an ace from Makenzie Ward and two kills from Patton for a 6-4 lead.
Then, Patton went behind the line, and served up seven straight points with three aces.
Madera South’s Angelina Alejo served up three points with four Liberty hitting errors to cut the lead to 12. After a Liberty missed serve, Esmeralda Jimenez served up two aces and four points to tie the set at 13.
Two side out kills from Hernandez and side out kills from Jenna Garvin and Patton kept the set tied. A Patton kill helped give Liberty a 17-15 lead.
Garvin stepped back to serve five straight points with an ace and kills from Patton and Vasquez.
The Stallions got a side out kill from Seraphim Peralta and a point served up from Keolany Lal. However, Vasquez finished the set with a kill from the middle for a 25-19 win.
In the second set, Allison Wolff served up the first five points of the set for Liberty, including an ace and a Macie Gladders kill.
The Stallions got a bump kill from Jimenez to cut the lead to three. Patton got the side out with a kill. After a Madera South serving error, Kambria Brannon served up three aces in a seven-point run. Wolf and Patton had kills in the run for a 15-4 lead.
After another missed Madera South serve, Patton served up two more points with a Natalie Olsby kill.
Wolf added two more aces and Miya Prado put down a kill for a 23-8 Liberty lead.
Yamileth Castaneda served up an ace, but Prado put down an overpass for the side out, and set point. Madera South hit into the net for a 25-11 Liberty win.
In the third set, Ward served up an ace and Patton put down two kills for a 7-2 lead.
Lal served an ace and Dallas Chavira put back an attack to cut the lead to 11-8 before a Garvin back row kill.
A Brianna Vasquez solo block and a block with Hernandez, and a Hernandez kill off a Vasquez assist helped Madera South cut the lead to 13-12.
Olsby put down a side out kill, and the Hawks served up a point for a three-point lead. The Hawks got side out kills from Olsby and Wolf while the Stallions got a side out kill from Alejo to keep the set close.
Joni Vasquez put down a kill for a two-point Liberty lead. Vasquez put down a tip kill, and Patton put the set away. She served up an ace in a four-point run. Vasquez recorded a solo block and put down a kill off an overpass for a 22-17 lead.
The Stallions got the side out, and Hernandez put down a tip kill to cut the lead to three.
Vasquez put down a soft kill for the side out. Emma Thompson served up an ace for match point. Hernandez got a side out kill for the Stallions, but a missed serve gave the Hawks a 25-20 set win for the sweep.