MANTECA, Calif. – St. Francis posted straight-set wins against Tokay, Stone Ridge Christian and Enochs to win its Day 1 pool play in the Central California Classic girls' prep volleyball tournament, hosted at Golden Valley, Merced and El Capitan Friday.
The Troubadours improve to 9-4 for the season. They swept the Tigers by 25-17, 25-6 scores to open the day, prevailed in a 25-14, 25-16 sweep of the Christian Knights in their early-evening match, then finished the day with a 25-17, 25-14 victory against the Eagles.
The tournament consisted of six pools of four teams, playing best-of-three matches at three different schools. The three wins moved St. Francis into Saturday's "Pool CC," with two morning matches at Merced High. The Troubies will face the second-place team from the El Capitan/Hilmar/Le Grand/Livingston pool at 9:30 a.m., then turn around to take on the winner of the Stockdale/Gregori/Merced/Orestimba group immediately following.
CORRECTION 9/9: St. Francis faced Hughson and Stone Ridge Christian to start Saturday's play.
ST. FRANCIS 2, TOKAY 0 (25-17, 25-6)
The Troubies needed just 20 kills to roll past the Tigers in their opening match, scoring a whopping 14 of the 50 total points at the service line. Setter Kelsey Magley had eight aces, with Ellie Carpenter and Mana Jafari adding three and two aces, respectively.
Magley distributed the offense evenly, with no one SF player getting more than seven attacks: Gabrielle Rowe (4-2-7), Isabella Ramos (3-1-4), Natalie Sandoval (3-0-4), Sophia Van Ness (3-1-4) and Lily Zeff (3-2-5). Furthermore, the Tigers had so few offensive opportunities that libero Jacqueline Smith led the floor defense with just five digs.
ST. FRANCIS 2, STONE RIDGE CHRISTIAN 0 (25-14, 25-14)
Magley continued to run the attack from all parts of the net, totaling 20 assists en route to a .224 team hitting average. Rowe led the way with six kills and a solo block at the right side, Van Ness posted five kills with just one error from the left, with Zeff hitting 4-0-7 with a stuff in the middle. Senior Amanda Silber supplemented Zeff's offense with two kills on five attempts in one set.
Friday marked the first time St. Francis has played SRC, which opened its doors in 2001.
ST. FRANCIS 2, ENOCHS 0 (25-17, 25-14)
The Troubies enjoyed their best hitting of the day in the nightcap with Enochs, posting a combined .310 success rate thanks to 27 kills and only nine attack errors. Zeff again dominated from the middle with an 8-1-12 chart, with Silber providing 3-0-4 attacking as part of the platoon.
Rowe (6-2-9) and Van Ness (5-2-12) continued to pound away from the pins, with Sandoval serving up four of her team's six aces. Magley finished with 24 assists and matched Smith with five digs.
