by Dennis McCall
Taft Midway Driller
COALINGA – Taft College moved into sole possession of second place in the Central Valley Conference volleyball race here Friday by sweeping the West Hills Falcons.
By winning 25-10, 25-9, 25-11 the Cougars improved their conference record to 8-2 and overall mark to 14-10.
TC now heads into the final stretch of the conference chase and hopes to hang around the No. 2 spot because it's unlikely anyone will get in the way of Fresno City College's quest for a ninth
consecutive championship.
Fresno, ranked No. 3 in northern California and No. 8 in the state, is 10-0 in the conference – all of them sweeps.
The Cougars are on the road this week at Reedley (7-3 CVC, 11-11 overall) and Merced (5-5, 8-9). Taft beat Reedley 3-1 and swept Merced when the teams met in the first round of conference play.
Head coach Kanoe Bandy, after beating Reedley win, said her team played exceptionally well against "a very good team," and knows the Tigers will be pointing for revenge this time.
The regular season comes to an end next week with the Cougars hosting Fresno and Sequoias – teams that swept them in the first round.
In the win over West Hills, the Cougars pressed 11 players into action with Skyler Taumua pacing the attack with 8 kills followed by Baillie Jensen with 7.
Virginia Salanoa-Sagapolu had 4 kills and Madeline Griffith, Payton Spragling and Courtnie Perry 3 each.
Setter Griffith contributed 25 sets and 9 digs.
Defensively, Janell Molina and Bailey San Augistin-Nordmeier had 10 digs apiece, Spragling 8, Halle
Neher and Skye Parker 4 each, Taumua 3, Kamalani Kahele 2 and Sagapolu 1.