ONLINE EXCLUSIVE -- Ripon High’s first-year water polo program brought out a big fan base for their first ever home contest and Valley Foothill Conference match, but Oakdale’s varsity boys broke away from a tight match with 10 unanswered goals and a 24-7 blowout on Wednesday.
The win showcased some serious dominance from a power scoring Oakdale offense, but both teams were all smiles to welcome a new program to prep water polo.
“Seven, eight years ago that was us in our first game.” Oakdale coach Alan Stender said. “It’s wonderful that Ripon has become a part of our league. They have a strong swim base and they needed a water polo program. They will be good in the near future.”
Ripon trailed Oakdale just 4-3 after a quarter and only 11-6 at the half, but Oakdale exploded for a 13-1 rally to steadily creep out of reach.
“In the first half Ripon came out and played really well,” Stender said. “We were 0-6 on shots we were taking from the outside, so we want to the basics and brought the ball inside and drove.”
Neal Cadra peppered the Ripon goal with big plays just in front of the net. He scored four of Oakdale’s first six goals and led both programs with eight total scores. Braden Lee added five goals while Jeremy Neathery and Brandon Terwilliger found the net four times each. Casey Whitley scored twice and Will Cavanaugh landed a goal as well.
Michael Tripp made 10 saves in the net for Oakdale.
Oakdale is at the S.O.S. Club in Modesto to face Central Catholic on Monday.
Golf
Oakdale landed 66 strokes below host Manteca in a 269-335 victory at the Manteca Parks Golf Course on Tuesday.
Mabel Wong took medalist honors with a 39-stroke performance while Dylanie Donahue paced the Mustangs with a 54. Kimberly Russell added a 56-stroke effort while Michelle DesRochers (59), Nicole Stastny (61) and Valarie Zemlyanskaya (67) also turned in scores. Oakdale is now 3-0 in Valley Oak League action and hosts Sonora on Thursday.
Tennis
The Mustangs opened the new-look Valley Oak League lineup right with a 5-4 defeat of Manteca on Tuesday. With 12 players now in the starting positions, Oakdale took two of six singles victories and snared all three doubles wins to claim the advantage.
Laurie Baxter and Katie Odom topped Kaile Hunt and Kayla Godfrey in 7-6, 6-4 scores to start the doubles domination. Corin Hernandez and Taylor Davis followed with 6-1, 6-4 wins over Mia Ramirez and Sealy McAdams while Francesca Orvis and Carly Rogers defeated Julia Saling and Aleeyah Cordoba (6-3, 6-4).
Oakdale saw singles wins from No. 1 Christine Kim (6-3, 7-7 [7-4] over Wendy Lin) and No. 2 Lindsay Dunn (6-2, 6-2 over Jasmine Sandhu). Nicole Armstrong, Alejandra Martinez, Emily Johnson and Kalkidan Curtis lost hard-fought matches on the singles court.
Oakdale is at Sonora Thursday to continue the VOL schedule.
Volleyball
Days after some stiff competition from the High Sierra Tournament, Oakdale’s varsity volleyball team showed some quick improvements by sweeping host Escalon and Turlock in consecutive matches on Sept. 6 and 7.
The team upended Escalon after 25-20, 28-26, 25-20 scores and blasted past Turlock in 25-24, 25-8, 25-17 marks the following day.
Junior setter Kellie Gratigny came alive with 22 service points, 34 assists and 21 digs in two days of action. Domi Powell added 13 kills and 19 service points while Justin Keith chipped in six kills, 12 points and 12 digs. Brittany Salas added 28 digs while Hayley McIntyre and Kesley McIntyre both totaled five kills. McKenzie Willet landed 10 kills while Kaitlyn Van Ryn tallied nine kills and 14 points.
The Mustang junior varsity team swept Escalon in two games after 25-14, 25-12 scores. Hannah Butler sent home five aces and eight assists while Brittany Carpenter made two blocks and three kills. Sabrina Franciosa gathered four digs as well.
“The girls played awesome and at their level,” Oakdale coach Cassie Clark said. “I can’t wait for league.”