A ruckus crowd gathered inside the gym at Gilroy High School to
watch the Mustangs girls volleyball team take on rival San Benito
on senior night Thursday.
The intensity level from the opening serve never decreased as
the Mustangs defeated the Balers in four high-energy sets (20-25,
25-15, 25-19, 25-22).
GILROY
A ruckus crowd gathered inside the gym at Gilroy High School to watch the Mustangs girls volleyball team take on rival San Benito on senior night Thursday.
The intensity level from the opening serve never decreased as the Mustangs defeated the Balers in four high-energy sets (20-25, 25-15, 25-19, 25-22).
“The girls played awesome,” Mustangs head coach Josh Corioso said. “It was a die-hard match. Tonight was our night. They played with so much emotion.”
The Balers controlled the first set from start to finish. Led by senior middle blocker Emily Tonascia, the Balers capitalized on a few Mustang miscues en route to the first-set win.
“(Tonascia) did a good job of finding open spots,” Balers coach Dean Askanas said. “We are in a little bit of a backslide, we are struggling right now. But all the credit goes to Gilroy, they played a great match.”
A determined Mustangs bunch turned a close second set into a runaway victory. A Shaunie Hewell kill followed by a monster spike by Melissa Avila led to a Baler timeout, but the points kept piling up for the Mustangs.
With the match 12-9 in favor of Gilroy, the Mustangs went on to win 12 of the next 18 points to even the match at one set apiece.
That momentum carried over to the third set where the Mustangs only trailed at one point in the set – surrendering the first point of the match to go down 0-1.
“We played hard on every point,” Mustang senior Avrielle Walker said. “We didn’t get too excited and were able to stay in our zone.”
The Mustangs edged the Balers in a tightly contested fourth set.
“They all put in the hard work,” Corioso said. “They deserve this win. It is an awesome feeling as a coach. I can’t imagine how the players are feeling right now.”
