Digging it in Gridley

In a profession where one is judged solely by the number of wins and losses, most coaches will take a victory any way they can get it. After all, a win is a win no matter how ugly it is, and as long as no there are no significant injuries suffered during the course of the game it will usually push a team closer to its goal at the end of the year.

However, the Gridley High volleyball team operates a little differently than most.

While Bulldogs' coach Sarah Tamagni must have been pleased after her club's 25-18, 25-20, 25-15 victory over Wheatland at Farmer's Hall on Tuesday night, she wasn't about to let her team rest on its laurels with next week's clash with heated Butte View League rival Sutter looming around the corner.

"We were a little sloppy tonight and had a lot of errors," Tamagni said. "We had some solid points, but overall we could have done much better."

While Tamagni was talking about the Bulldogs as a whole, one player who could not have performed any better on Tuesday was McKenna Cox. The senior middle blocker was easily the best player on the court and put on a dazzling all-around display to finish the match with a game-high 14 kills and four blocks to go with her three aces from the service line.

But even with her impressive offensive statistics, Cox truly makes her mark when defending the net. That's when her ability to stuff opponents in the middle comes into play.

"I love blocking — it's my favorite part of the game," Cox said. "I love it when they think they have a shot and I stop them."

The Bulldogs (13-11, 3-1) pounced on Wheatland early by jumping out to a 10-1 lead in the opening game of the match. Sheena Ruggirello, who is Gridley's top pitcher in softball, had seven service points and smashed three aces during the early spurt in which Cox make her mark with two early kills.

Kacy Blenn also came up big with four kills during the opening game, each one coming with the Pirates at the service line.

The opening game was the best played of the match as both teams repeatedly shot themselves in the foot by committing unforced errors. Gridley made nine miscues in the second game alone, however the Pirates couldn't capitalize with 10 unforced errors of their own, including three at the service line.

"It was just bad passing," said Wheatland coach

Ashley DeMello. "We definitely need to work on our passing and communic tion tomorrow at practice."

Setter Teryn Mathews tallied 25 assists, Mimi Waller had six digs and Ruggirello added five kills, five digs and a game-high six aces to lead the Bulldogs.

"We're still growing together and gelling as a team, but we should be over it at this point of the season," Tamagni said. "We're super-talented individually, now we need to play as a team."

Rachel Johnson led the Pirates (8-4, 2-2) with nine kills, two blocks and a pair of aces using a newly-developed jump-serve.

"It was her first game using the jump-serve and she was a little nervous, so I told her to just go for it," DeMello said of the sophomore. "She's a very talented player, and for as young as she is, she's very smart on the court."

Anna West had five kills and served 100 percent, while Brittany Keys and Rocio Rodriguez also played well, DeMello said.