Tracy’s Lindsay Price, center, spikes the volleyball between St. Mary’s Sydney Marks, left, and Emma Miller during their Tri-City Athletic League match Thursday at Tracy High’s Swenson Gym. Tracy won in four games.
By Thomas Lawrence
Record Staff Writer
TRACY — For a moment, the Tracy volleyball team’s recent history of starting slow in league play seemed doomed to repeat itself.
Tracy has lost two matches in the first half of Tri-City Athletic League play the past two seasons, only to storm through the final five contests undefeated. St. Mary’s took Game 1 on Thursday, overpowering the Bulldogs, but Tracy took off with sound passing and strong play at the net, winning 21-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-14 at Swenson Gym.
“Whenever we come up against St. Mary’s, it’s always a big, anticipated game. We’re always hyped up and nervous,” Tracy setter Karina Rodriguez said. “We got our jitters out the first game.”
Indeed, the Bulldogs (20-3, 3-0 TCAL) were fearless from then on, evening the match on Cassie Corbett’s one-handed block to clinch Game 2. Corbett, a sophomore and outside hitter, was ecstatic.
“I love those moments, because it just gets you so pumped up,” said Corbett, who posted 10 kills, “and motivates the team to do better.”
Tracy overcomes slow start to beat St. Mary’s
Tri-City Athletic League
Team TCAL All
Tracy 3-0 20-3
Lincoln 3-0 10-3
St. Mary’s 2-1 12-10
West 1-2 17-17
Tokay 0-3 12-9
Lodi 0-3 4-6
“When Hannah’s fired up, she gets the team fired up,” Corbett said. “She has a great personality.”
Jasmine Childress pitched in 10 kills, Rodriguez dished out 10 assists and Chelsey Eddy Berry had 11 digs for Tracy. The Bulldogs reached last year’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinals, a career apex for Mahina McCamey, The Record’s two-time defending Coach of the Year.
And while she knows there’s plenty of season left, McCamey was happy to oversee a better start against the league’s elite.
“St. Mary’s is an amazing team. It’s a pleasure and an honor to play against them,” McCamey said. “I’m just really proud of my girls. They fight no matter what.”
The Rams (12-10, 2-1) fed off the energy and powerful right arm of senior Sydney Marks, who delivered a team-high 12 kills, including the Game 1 winner. Marisa Flores added 14 digs and Zoe Bautista had 18 assists for St. Mary’s.
“The adrenaline and the physical part of the game — we were way ahead of them” in Game 1, said Rams coach Jayne McHugh, an Olympian and former Pacific coach and All-American player. “In Games 2, 3 and 4 we just stopped passing the ball.”
St. Mary’s has several new faces surrounding Marks, after leading offensive players in Ngozi Nwabuzoh, Adri Baysinger and Natalie Cortopassi graduated.
“When you have good players like Tracy has, and a good coaching staff like Tracy has, and they’re in system” they’re going to succeed, McHugh said.
Besides the opening game, Tracy’s most frustrating moment of the night came during post-match cleanup. One of the Bulldogs dropped a large bucket of ice water on the floor, and the team tried, mostly in vain, to clean it with paper towels.
“Game 1 was tough for us. This, and Game 1,” McCamey said, gesturing toward the floor.