Oakdale’s varsity Lady Mustangs downed Weston Ranch at home 25-17, 25-16, 25-16 on the volleyball court, keeping their home record spotless at 7-0 and dropping the Cougars to 5-8 overall. Christina Cobarruvias had six aces on the game for Oakdale, while Lauren Ott, Kaitlyn Van Ryn, Jennifer Guzman and Brittany Carpenter had several kills each.

Despite the sweep, Mustang coaches and players were not satisfied with their overall performance.

“We didn’t come out as strong against Weston Ranch as I was hoping for,” Shelli Ponce, head volleyball coach, said. “We still pulled off the win, but there was a lack of aggressiveness that we portrayed on the court against the Cougars that even the players were disappointed with.”

Following the home win against Weston Ranch, the Lady Mustangs went on the road and fell uncharacteristically in straight sets at Sonora, where the Wildcats remain undefeated at 8-0. Oakdale lost 17-25, 18-25, 14-25.

“We prepared for Sonora in practice and all season long,” Ponce said. “They definitely had great hitters and we lacked height. We were not as effective blocking and made critical errors on rallies with a ball at the net, and missed serves played into the loss as well.”

The Lady Mustangs were paced by Ott and Van Ryn, who combined for 13 kills, while Guzman added four, but it was a collective team loss by the Mustangs as the standard digging, serving and setting all slumped in defeat.

“None of our core players were on,” Ponce added. “We will be out for revenge on our home court and hopefully sharing a VOL title by season’s end.”

The Lady Mustangs ended the week at 6-1 in league and 15-4 overall, they were scheduled to face Lathrop on Monday Oct. 14, followed by a three week playoff push stretch of games against Sierra, at Manteca, home against Kimball and East Union, before playing at Weston Ranch and the season finale in Oakdale against rival Sonora on Nov. 4.