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Varsity Volleyball Girls Net VOL Win
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Senior Alyssa Cogburn gets to the ball against Kimball on Thursday night in the home win for the varsity volleyball girls. DENNIS D. CRUZ/THE LEADER

The Oakdale High School varsity volleyball team opened up their Valley Oak League season this past week. Oakdale (2-4, 1-1) played their final non-league game on Thursday, Aug. 30 against Pitman and lost in three sets (20-25, 22-25, 16-25). The team’s league opener was held on Tuesday, Sept. 4 at Manteca (10-1, 2-0) where Oakdale lost to the Buffaloes 3-1.

For the second straight contest, sophomore Emma Harper led the team in kills with seven. Harper, along with Grace Verdegaal and Jensen Perry, all had a team high five blocks in the game. Oakdale won the first set 25-22 but lost three straight sets after the promising start (11-25, 17-25, 16-25). Kailee Whorton led the team with 13 digs and freshman Abby Cogburn added 10 digs. Alyssa Cogburn had a team high 10 assists.

Two days later the girls hosted their home opener against Kimball (6-6, 0-2). The back and forth contest went to five sets where Oakdale took the first set 25-21 and after dropping the second and third sets (22-25, 20-25) they bounced back with a 25-22 fourth set win and put down the Jaguars 15-9 in the final set of the evening to nail down the league victory.

The girls traveled to Manteca to take on East Union (6-3, 2-0) on Tuesday, Sept. 11 following The Leader’s press time. Oakdale then travels to Stockton to take on Weston Ranch (7-4, 0-2) on Thursday evening Sept. 13. The team will return home on Tuesday, Sept. 18 when they take on unbeaten Central Catholic (12-0, 1-0). All games are scheduled for 6 p.m. following the freshman (4 p.m. start) and junior varsity (5 p.m.) contests.

The junior varsity team is 2-0 in league play as they knocked off Manteca 2-1 (25-19, 22-25, 15-13) and earned a home win over visiting Kimball 2-0 (25-13, 25-16). For the freshman team, Valley Oak League play opened with a 2-1 road loss to Manteca. The youngest Lady Mustangs won the first set 25-19 but dropped consecutive sets to the host team 23-25, 12-15. Oakdale bounced back with a sweep of the Jaguars of Kimball on Thursday night. In the home contest Oakdale won 25-17, 25-14.