‘Balers defeat Live Oak in three games
Morgan Hill – For a team with expectations as high as the San Benito girls volleyball team, there can be some uneasiness until the first match when the team finally sees how it does in action.
In their season opener Wednesday on the road against Live Oak, the Lady ‘Balers relieved some of that uneasiness by sweeping the former Tri-County Athletic League rival Acorns in three games, 25-14, 25-14, 25-11.
“You never know what you have until that first whistle blows,” ‘Balers head coach Dean Askanas said. “It was good to see them react. The first few points they looked a little nervous or a little unsure. Then they found themselves.”
Senior setter Chelsea Fowles was strong from the outset, recording six of her game-high 19 assists in the first game as San Benito took control of the match. Fowles said the team felt good to see how well it could perform in a game setting.
“I think it just reassures (us) how much we know that we have on the team,” Fowles said. “We have so much potential.”
The ‘Balers’ Emily Kortsen, who recorded a game-high nine kills, was happy to get the season started right and is excited about what the team has in store.
“If we’re so good at the beginning of the year, we’re only going to get better,” Kortsen said. “I think we’re going to be the best we’ve ever been.”
Kortsen, the defending TCAL most valuable player and Fowles, a returning All-League selection, proved to be a dynamic duo with Fowles setting up eight of Kortsen’s nine kills on the night.
After leading for the entirety of Game 1, San Benito found itself in its only deficit of the night when Live Oak took a 2-0 lead to start the second game.
But a Kortsen kill off a Fowles assist tied the game at 4-4 and the ‘Balers rattled off seven straight points and didn’t trail the rest of the night.
Junior Bri Romero, another returning All-League selection, finished off the game with one of her eight kills on the night and San Benito cruised to a two games to none advantage.
The third game was more of the same. Live Oak tried to keep it close and had it knotted up at 6-6 early on. But the ‘Balers scored 10 straight points and 15 out of 16 to take a 21-7 advantage and finished off the Acorns.
San Benito will head into the prestigious Milpitas Spikefest I on Saturday and Askanas felt good that the team will be on a roll as it prepares for some even tougher competition.
“They’re going to have a real tough challenge this weekend going into a really hard tournament,” Askanas said. “There’s still some things we have to iron out, but it was a really good start.”
