El Capitan High senior Tyler McCreary usually drew the focus of the opposing defense. It rarely slowed him down. The Gauchos star led his team with 388 kills, ranking 16th in the Sac-Joaquin Section to help El Capitan finish second in the Central California Conference. 

The 6-foot-7 senior was named the CCC Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season. “It means a lot to me,” McCreary said. “I’m glad to be able to show off my talents to not only fans and my teammates, but to the coaches as well. It also just proves the hard work and dedication I have put into this sport, because volleyball is a way of life for me.”

McCreary recently signed his national letter of intent to play volleyball at Vanguard University. McCreary was a leader on and off the court for the Gauchos. “I had to step up as a player and take my team to higher lengths ,not just in a competitive standpoint, but emotionally as well,” McCreary said. “There would be points in games where I could just see everyone’s mentality was down and I would have to make a great offensive play to boost everyone’s morale.”

 Golden Valley sophomore Jake Green was named the Best Offensive Player and Cougars teammate Marc Her was named Setter of the Year. Merced High’s Erick Nevarez was selected Best Defensive Player.

The all-CCC first team selections were El Capitan’s Richard Her and Gabriel Olvera, Golden Valley’s Josh Chao, Merced’s Jacob Dickson and Atwater’s Jonathan Quinn. The second team picks were Golden Valley’s Damon Saechao, Merced’s Pablo Santiago, Buhach Colony’s Fernando Garcia-Calderon, Atwater’s James Harrocks, El Capitan’s A.J. Jones and Los Banos’ David Mercado. 

Receiving honorable mention were Golden Valley’s Michael Moua, Los Banos’ Khazi Aguinaldo, Merced’s Benny Xiong, Buhach Colony’s Anthony Nieto-Virrey, Atwater’s Connor Sweet and Merced’s Kory Moua. The CCC Sportsmanship Award winners were Jokel Davis (Golden Valley), Kavin Parreira (Los Banos), John Xiong (Merced), Angadveer Virk (Buhach Colony), Fabian Mena (Atwater) and Touzer Herr (El Capitan).

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.