Stallions fall to defending champs

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune

Madera South’s Danae Prudente rises up to put down one of her team-high 16 kills in Tuesday’s four-set loss to Hoover.

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When a team returns the league’s Most Valuable Player, that team is generally one of the favorites to win the league, and the Hoover Patriots, who won the North Yosemite League last season, is definitely one of the favorites this season.

However, the Madera South Stallions didn’t let that affect them Tuesday night. They managed to take a set off of the Patriots despite losing the four sets by a combined 95-67.

“We play a big mental game,” head coach Madison Devine said. “If one thing is off, everyone is off. We saw that coming into the first set. I tell them that if our energy is low, we’re not going to perform well. I always encourage them to have the energy up. I saw that get better through the night, but we dug ourselves too big a hole.”