SALINAS VALLEY — Volleyball teams in South Monterey County are just a week away from starting divisional play in the Pacific Coast Athletic League and have just a handful of games to complete the pre-season schedule.
GREENFIELD
The Greenfield Lady Bruins had a successful week with two wins against the Soledad Aztecs and won the silver bracket at the Rancho San Juan Volleyball Smash last Saturday.
Last Tuesday Greenfield had a four-game win over the host Soledad. Aleena Salas led Greenfield with 21 kills and added seven service aces and three blocks to her stat sheet. Jocelyn Mendoza led the Bruins with 27 assists and Emily Soto and Kimberly Carpio combined for 11 kills, while Madeleine Guillen had 21 digs.
In the second game with Soledad on Friday, the Bruins swept the Aztecs with 10 kills and five aces by Salas, nine kills by Soto, 21 assist by Mendoza and six blocks by Arlene Cruz.
In tournament play at Rancho San Juan, the Lady Bruins lost the first match in three sets to Alisal and were placed in the silver bracket.
Greenfield then completed the tournament with wins over Everett Alvarez, and a win in the championship game against Rancho San Juan.
“The girls have been competitive in every game we’ve played,” said Greenfield head coach Adrian Trujillo. “As Aleena Salas continues to get better and healthy, she will definitely be an athlete to watch out for the next couple of years. As a sophomore, Aleena and senior Madeleine Guillen are the anchors of the team, along with senior Emily Soto and Jocylyn Mendoza.”
Greenfield played back-to-back games with Gonzales on Monday and Tuesday (after press deadlines) and will complete the week on Friday in a contest with North Monterey County.
KING CITY
The King City Lady Mustangs won both their pre-season games last week, winning on Sept. 3 at Everett Alvarez in three games and on Sept. 5 against the Alisal Trojans 3-0 in the King City Gym.
Against Everett Alvarez, Hollyn Hearne led King City with 13 kills and had seven digs and three service aces. Amity Hearne added nine kills and finished with eight digs and five service aces.
At home against the Trojans, Janesa Lopez led the Lady Mustangs with 15 assists and added seven digs and four service aces. Xienna Novoa led King City with 15 digs.
“The girls played well and made it through a week of very high temperatures,” said King City head coach Christine Luna. “Against Alisal, the team had a good performance and we had a great crowd cheering us on. Outside hitters Iran Ibarra and Hollyn Hearne both had great matches leading our team in kills and Amity Hearne and Avery Munoz were contributors in the front row. Xienna Novoa was the leader in the back row compiling 31 digs in two matches. Looking forward to our last week of pre-season matches before we start league play.”
King City (3-3) hosted North Salinas on Tuesday night and will travel to Soledad on Friday.
SOLEDAD AND GONZALES
Soledad (1-3) defeated North Salinas last Wednesday in between the games with Greenfield. The Aztecs were on the road against Santa Catalina on Tuesday, play at Watsonville on Thursday and then host King City on Friday.
The Gonzales Spartans are 3-1 with 3-0 wins over visiting Rancho San Juan and North Monterey County. After the consecutive games with Greenfield, the Spartans will complete the week at home Thursday against the Monterey High Toreadores.
