Orestimba High School volleyball teams continued to struggle as the Warriors were swept (11-25, 11-25, 7-25) on the road against Ripon Christian High School on Thursday.

With its fifth straight loss, the Warriors fall to 10-13 overall and remain winless at 0-5 in Trans Valley League play. Ripon Christian has won 15 straight matches against the Warriors, dating back to October 2017. 

Throughout the match, Orestimba struggled both offensively and defensively. From underthrowing serves to allowing Ripon Christian to spike the ball, it was a long evening for the Warriors.

“We just kind of struggled with everything. Our passing was bad, so we couldn’t do anything offensively. We missed a lot of serves,” said Orestimba head coach Carlee Felber. “When you miss a lot of serves, you don’t even give yourself a chance to score.”

In the opening set, Ripon Christian came prepared with a 10-1 lead. Despite Orestimba calling a timeout afterwards, the Knights continued its dominance to a 25-11 win in the first set.

Orestimba began the second set with a 2-0 lead and it seemed that the Warriors came with a sense of urgency. However due to errors and allowing multiple kills, Ripon Christian scored five straight points for a three-point lead. From communicating to one another and blocking Orestimba’s spike attempts, the Knights went on a 18-8 scoring run and won the set, 25-11.

Through every Ripon Christian point, the student section got increasingly loud. Similar to the previous sets, the Knights held an opening 6-0 lead and won the third and final set, 25-7.

Orestimba will begin its two-game homestand on Tuesday against Escalon High School at 6 p.m. Escalon comes to Newman at 7-10 overall with recent losses to Ripon Christian and Ripon High School. Last season, the Warriors snapped a 17-game losing streak against Escalon after it won its first match against Escalon in the program’s history.

Navtej Hundal is a freelance journalist in Stanislaus County