Volleyball senior night turned into ‘Sammy night’
Senior Sammy Gonzalez jumps to spike the ball against Lincoln.
October 31, 2013
It was “Sammy Night” for the Tracy High volleyball team on Oct. 28. What is traditionally known as senior night was changed to “Sammy Night” because Sammy Gonzalez is the only senior on the team.
Head coach Mahina Tankersley, who has coached Gonzalez since her sophomore year, had high remarks for Gonzalez.
“Sammy is a great player and a great person. She will do well wherever she goes,” Tankersley said. “I am super proud of her and wish her the best.”
Gonzalez was very appreciative of having the night dedicated to her.
“To have it dedicated to just me made me feel very special,” Gonzalez said. “It makes me appreciate all of my hard work over my volleyball career.”
Gonzalez had lots of support from family and friends.
“It made me overwhelmed with happiness to have so much support because it was a big and important night,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez plans on playing volleyball in college.
“I have hopes for my walk-on tryout at Cal State Stanislaus,” Gonzalez said, “but I have not decided which school I am going to attend.”
Tracy (6-2) (13-6 overall) lost its San Joaquin Athletic Association (SJAA) game and first home loss to Lincoln High (8-0) (19-10 overall), three games to none, 25-16, 25-9, 25-23. Tracy now sits at second place in the SJAA behind Lincoln.
Tankersley thinks if the Bulldogs would have passed better they would have had a better chance to beat Lincoln.
“Our passing has always been strong, but we were just a little off tonight,” Tankersley said.
Tracy had its first victory over Lodi High in all of Tankersley’s 11 years of being involved with the Tracy volleyball program on Oct. 7, and beat them again on Oct. 23.
“I have been waiting for my girls to beat Lodi for a long time and they finally did,” Tankersley said, “and not only once, but twice.”
The players were also really excited about the wins.
“It was super exciting and really satisfying that all of our hard work really paid off,” junior Mika Fithian said.
The Bulldogs next game is at Bear Creek on Nov. 4, at 6 p.m.
Division II Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs begin on Nov. 7. Tracy can get a guaranteed first round home match if they are one of the top eight seeds.
