About 20 Hollister High boys volleyball fans spread out in the
upper echelon of Mattson Gym Monday night, bravely foregoing the
NCAA men’s championship basketball game with Syracuse and
Kansas.
About 20 Hollister High boys volleyball fans spread out in the upper echelon of Mattson Gym Monday night, bravely foregoing the NCAA men’s championship basketball game with Syracuse and Kansas.
The spunky Balers didn’t disappoint their small, but loyal faithful, scaring first place Live Oak before bowing 9-15, 15-10, 15-5, 13-15, 9-15, the final set tabulated by rally scoring.
The underdog Balers (8-11, 1-5), who had won just one Tri-County Athletic League match in five outings entering the contest, came extremely close to shocking the Acorns in four games. Sometimes judgement by a higher authority comes into play.
Exhibit A had the Balers and Acorns tied 13-13 in the fourth game with the Balers serving. During the rally, a suspect set by the Acorns wasn’t whistled by the up ref and the Acorns (16-9, 6-0) were awarded sideout. Two sequences later, the Balers were guilty of the very same double violation, which put Live Oak up 14-13, a two-point swing.
“I can’t do anything about that,” lamented Baler head coach Henke Mao.
The Balers scored first in game five, then were down 3-6 before an off-balance kill by Brannon Wynn, who led the Balers with 12 kills. Hollister could never really catch the Acorns, who looked for 6-foot-9 Drew Pearson more and more as the match wore on. Pearson, who had a slow start, put down a few kills late in the match as the Balers couldn’t come up with the block.
The Acorns, who were without 6-3 frontliner Terry Sullivan (sick, could get very intimidating with Pearson and 6-9 Chris Deem, a couple of members on the Acorns hoop team. Sometimes the pair would be on the court at the same time, other times, it was one or the other or not at all.
“I had to save them so they could block Hollister’s best hitters,” said Acorns coach John Telfer. “I had to pick my spots to use them.”
After a spotty game one, Hollister turned it on in game two, despite trailing 4-0. Edward Kauffman, a whirling dervish at 5-5, aced a serve. Wynn and Nathan Thome combined for a block for 3-4. Kauffman made a skillful up during a rally and Thomas Rebecchi, who blocked like a pro, made a block for 5-5. Rebecchi and Thome joined for a block and 7-5.
Up 12-10, Travis Fowles had a winner on a dink. Kauffman had a short serve which caused problems and gained game point. Fowles had one of his eight kills for the game-winner.
Game three was even more dominating for the Balers. Down 0-3, they went on a 12-0 run. Wynn, who played well in the middle of the net all match, executed a block for game point. Thome found a hole in the Acorns’ back row and the Balers were on the precipice of a major upset.
Game four actually had the Balers rally from 4-12, scoring nine of the next 10 points. Kyle Fowles chipped in an ace for 11-13. Wynn’s tip scored another point. Kauffman tied the score before that fateful non-call.
“It’s a whole bunch of little things that hurt us,” said Wynn. “We have the ability to beat that team, but a few of our players don’t play their proper positions.”
“Volleyball is a mental game,” said Mao. “The players want it so much that sometimes they lose the technical part of the game. They’re not disciplined the way they should be.”
Live Oak’s Matt McElroy said his club wasn’t burdened with overconfidence on the trip from Morgan Hill to Hollister.
“Hollister played well,” said McElroy. “We didn’t play very well, but Hollister blocked us very well and that had a lot to do with it. We played them before in a tournament so we know they were a good team.”
“This game should give us some confidence,” said Kauffman, who had five kills among the tall trees of the Acorns. “It gave us some experience.”
The Balers are Salinas this Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The early start is because the Cowboys are without a junior varsity team.
JV score: Live Oak defeated Hollister 11-15, 15-11, 16-14. “We need some more conditioning,” said Baler coach Sue Grogan. “I’m not sure what happened in game two, and game three went back-and-forth.”
