High schools: Clovis East boys volleyball, badminton secure Central Section titles
The Clovis East boys volleyball team captured the Central Section championships with a five-set win over No. 5 Buchanan.
The win gave the Timberwolves their third section title in school history.
The match scores were 25-20, 19-25, 21-25, 25-17, 15-5.
Next up for Clovis East is a spot in the inaugural California Interscholastic Federation state tournament.
The Timberwolves are the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 Saint Francis at 6 p.m. Tuesday in NorCal Division I. Also in D-I, No. 4 Clovis hosts No. 5 Northgate.
In D-II, Buchanan is the top seed in NorCal and will meet No. 8 West Park. No. 7 Clovis North will travel to No. 2 Amador Valley.
Sanger West is the eight seed and will meet No. 1 Sage Hill in SoCal Division III.
The state championships will be played at Fresno City College on May 31.
Badminton: Clovis East wins four in a row
Clovis East won its fourth straight Central Section badminton title with a 17-7 victory over Clovis North.
“I absolutely love this team,” Clovis East coach Janine Sodersten said. “These girls were all so amazing and probably one of my funnest groups I’ve ever had. With that being said, I told the girls that this was going to be a building year. I only had three seniors and a boatload of sophomores. But of those sophomores I have three soccer players and another junior, who is a soccer player, a tennis player and a volleyball player. So this is the first year I’ve had a wide array of athletes other than just badminton players. It was the perfect mix.”
Sodersten said she lost 12 seniors last year, but said her girls proved her wrong, led by sophomore Alana Barron, who has not lost a match all year.
“They are competitors and they are all extremely coachable,” Sodersten said. “My first-year (badminton) player — a junior soccer player — said, ‘Coach, I really like this. I think I might focus more on badminton than soccer now.’“
Tennis champions crowned
Several Fresno-area teams won Central Section championships.
They are Buchanan (D-I), Fresno Christian (D-III) and Fresno (D-IV).
In individual championships, Bryce Blount and Cilliers Du Plessis of Buchanan are doubles champions after defeating Lance Willkomm/Lucas Lehman of Arroyo Grande, 6-4 5-7 6-3. In the singles title, Zeb Duket of Bakersfield Christian defeated Riley King of Clovis East, 6-4 6-7 (3) 6-4.
