Lady Balers stave off Mustangs in 4 games
Matches that are over in three games are usually a little easier
to forget about. It’s those close, hard-fought ones that tend to
linger all season long.
”
I think this was a battle,
”
Gilroy first-year head coach Josh Corioso said.
”
It was just a battle.
”
Lady Balers stave off Mustangs in 4 games
Matches that are over in three games are usually a little easier to forget about. It’s those close, hard-fought ones that tend to linger all season long.
“I think this was a battle,” Gilroy first-year head coach Josh Corioso said. “It was just a battle.”
The second half of the Tri-County Athletic League season hasn’t even started yet, but Tuesday night’s match between San Benito and Gilroy acted as a precursor to what is certainly going to be a mad dash toward the postseason.
With only one of the games resembling any sort of a comfortable victory for either team, the two rivals battled to the brink Tuesday night with the Lady Balers garnering a slight edge as they narrowly defeated visiting Gilroy in four games (25-22, 27-25, 14-25, 25-22) at Mattson Gym in Hollister.
With Salinas and Notre Dame already earning TCAL-title consideration, San Benito, Gilroy and North Salinas are expected to be jockeying for their rightful place in the league standings.
The second half of the TCAL season begins next week.
“To me, it was big because Gilroy fought Salinas … and they fought Notre Dame,” San Benito head coach Dean Askanas said. “So I knew coming in they must have something.”
The Mustangs perhaps wouldn’t mind a rematch next week, though. Having never defeated San Benito since the two teams joined the TCAL, the Mustangs’ victory in Game 3 Tuesday night at least prevented a three-game sweep – the first time that’s happened since Oct. 2, 2003.
“It’s hard to close a good team out in three games,” Askanas said. “It’s very hard to close out a team in three, especially when two teams are evenly matched.”
That much was evident in Game 2, which saw the Lady Balers trail by as many as four points late in the game, including game point.
Down 20-16 after Gilroy’s Shaunie Hewell found an opening for a kill, San Benito cut the deficit to one behind a pair of kills from outside hitter Jessica Meade. But Gilroy deposited four more scores behind a front line that included Avri Walker and Sarah Una Dia, each of whom provided kills in Gilroy’s four-point spurt, while the Mustangs held serve at game point, 24-21.
But with the Mustangs poised to knot the match at one game apiece, Baler Kelsie Asp kept San Benito alive with a kill of her own, while Gilroy was later called for a net violation that evened the score at 24-all.
The two teams sat tied at 25 as well before Asp slammed down another kill and Gilroy committed a hitting error to seal San Benito’s Game 2 steal, 27-25.
“This was very important because we’ve been trying to prove ourselves all year long,” Asp said.
