They may have finished in the same position as they did last
year, but the San Benito Lady ‘Balers were much improved at the
Milpitas Spikefest last weekend, finishing fourth out of 32
teams.
Milpitas – They may have finished in the same position as they did last year, but the San Benito Lady ‘Balers were much improved at the Milpitas Spikefest last weekend, finishing fourth out of 32 teams.
“They were improved,” Coach Dean Askanas said when comparing his team’s performance to last week’s opening game against Harbor. “Our serving was better and our serve-receive was better. We looked a little cleaner and they performed very well in the morning. I didn’t expect us to go that far.”
In the morning, the Lady ‘Balers opened the Spikefest with a 2-0 win over Willow Glen, and followed that with a 2-0 win over Homestead and a 2-0 win over Carlmont.
Homestead and Carlmont, who are both upcoming on the Lady ‘Balers non-conference schedule this season, were both Division I Central Coast Section qualifiers last year.
“They pleasantly surprised me by beating Homestead and Carlmont in the morning,” Askanas said. “Those are our main competitors. We played very well.”
The 3-0 mark put San Benito into the four-team Gold Division, along with St. Francis, Presentation and Archbishop Mitty. San Benito was the only public school in the Gold Division.
In the afternoon, though, the Lady ‘Balers lost to Mitty and Presentation 2-0. Mitty, out of San Jose, is ranked the No. 2 volleyball team in the country.
Askanas said junior setter Justine Hunter played very well, made good decisions and played aggressively. She went for “the right hitter at the right time, and her performance was 100 percent better.”
“Hopefully, she keeps moving in that direction,” Askanas added.
Today, the Lady ‘Balers will host Homestead at 6:30pm. Although they defeated Homestead on Saturday in straight sets, Askanas is expecting a more prepared Homestead team tonight.
“Beating them again will be harder. They’ll be more refined and it’ll be a harder match because they’ll be ready for us,” the coach said of Homestead. On Thursday, San Benito will play at Presentation, who defeated them at the Spikefest.
“It’s time for us now to jump to the next level and beat teams like Presentation,” Askanas said. “But it’s going to be hard – a lot of refining. We still have work left to do.”
