On Thursday’s senior night, Turlock High volleyball struggled in a Central California Conference matchup to contain a Merced High squad that came into town on fire, as they blazed through the ‘Dogs in straight sets, (18-25, 9-25 and 11-25).

“We had to work a rotation that we had never worked with before and it just seemed that everybody was just not feeling it,” Turlock head coach Amber Castillon said.

At first the Bulldogs were putting up a fight against their CCC foe Merced as the first set was at 11-12 then 18-20, but soon after, the visiting Bears just rolled up their sleeves and played mistake free.

“It was momentum and they did not seem comfortable with it and that made it difficult to capitalize when they did something well due to Merced’s good play,” Castillon said.

The Bulldogs would come as close as 7-8 in the second set but they would not lead for the remainder of the match, with the Bears dominating the match.

“They are always tough,” said Castillon as she sighed after a crumbling performance from her team.

Natalie and Nicolette Santos topped out the game with four kills each for Turlock while Courtney Crivelli added on five digs and six assists.

Merced’s top stars for the day were Rheanne Lewis who finished the day with 28 digs and Erika Beaudry finished with a game-high 27 assists.

Turlock will finish their regular season against Pitman at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

“Pitman is a good team that plays together and I hope our girls can play together and enjoy themselves out there regardless of the outcome,” Castillon said about her season finale against top CCC team, Pitman.