After two games, the Alisal volleyball team had its bags packed
and ready for an early trip home. But the Haybalers had other
ideas.
After two games, the Alisal volleyball team had its bags packed and ready for an early trip home. But the Haybalers had other ideas.
San Benito came back from a two-game deficit to defeat Alisal 22-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-7 in a Tri-County Athletic League game Wednesday night.
The Balers knew coming in that they would have their hands full with Alisal, who was undefeated in league play. In the first two games, the Balers (5-8, 2-3 TCAL) couldn’t finish the games even though they were close.
In those games, Alisal (6-5, 4-1 TCAL) forced the Balers to make mistakes. The Trojans used a lot of short, quick sets to gain the advantage.
“Offensively, we have a lot of weapons,” said Alisal coach Mio Nishimura. “We weren’t getting the passes to our setter. They started digging and blocking our hits.”
Most of the Haybalers’ kills came late in the match. No one was in double digits because Alisal did a good job of digging.
Tomas Rebecchi led the team with eight. Nathan Thome and Kyle Fowles had six and Peter Prak had five.
But the Haybalers got it done with their serves with 13 aces. Players such as Fowles, Jonathan Crepeau and Nathan Davies got several rallies going with their serves.
After the match was tied at 21 then 22 in the third game, San Benito got a hard block to force the ball out of bounds, and then Crepeau and Jeff Hawks combined for a tip to go up 24-22.
Alisal again tied the game at 24-24 before hitting a long serve out of bounds. The Balers had to earn their final point.
Prak and Alex Gonzales both made nice digs during the rally, and Crepeau had a couple one-time spike attempts at the net before San Benito was able to win.
In the fourth game, the Balers built a 10-4 advantage as Davies recorded five consecutive winning serves.
Alisal got within 12-11 before Rebecchi had a kill. After Alisal had a call at the net reversed and called in San Benito’s favor, the Trojans fell behind 16-12 and seemed to fall apart as San Benito scored three more points.
After the Balers called timeout up 23-18, they were able to hold on for the win.
In the final round, the Balers came out fired up and took a 6-1 advantage to force an Alisal timeout before winning.
“During practice, we stressed not giving up,” said Baler coach Henke Mao. “We kept the pressure up and didn’t give in. We just tried to work on one point at a time.”
