The San Benito High girls volleyball team showed flashes of brilliance in Tuesday night’s non-league loss to Homestead, one of the top teams in the Central Coast Section.
Unfortunately for the Haybalers, those moments were exactly that—few and far between. The defeat—game scores were 27-25, 28-26, 25-13—was downright deflating for a team that was coming off a three-game sweep of Harbor the previous week.
“Tonight obviously was a very flat performance,” Balers coach Dean Askanas said. “There were some young mistakes out there, but there were also some senior mistakes as well. A match like tonight is a team loss because we all took turns playing poorly. I think tonight we just fell flat on our face.”
Even though San Benito displayed plenty of grit and resolve in saving five game points in the opening set, Askanas said the team put itself in a tough situation by trailing for most of the contest. Freshman libero Noel Chavarria produced a number of digs to keep rallies alive, and she was one of the few players on the team who had a solid game of serve-receive.
However, Askanas did say that he has seen Chavarria play better, and also noted that sophomore outside hitter Marisa Villegas was the team’s best player for the match.
The Balers had an 11-6 lead in Game 2 and more importantly three game points, but they couldn’t finish. Homestead won the second game before cruising to a 12-point win in the final set, finishing the sweep.
“In Game 2 we had an opportunity to push it (the lead) and we didn’t take advantage. That’s playing flat,” Askanas said. “We never had six people playing well at once.”
Askanas has used losses in the past to benefit the team, but he said it’s going to be tough—but not impossible—to draw any positives out of this defeat.
“I think the players have to do some soul searching on how they’re going to come out of situations,” he said. “I don’t pull much good out of tonight’s loss because I thought we were too flat. We had a tough (five-game) loss to Aptos, but we played well and there were things we could learn from. But a loss like tonight, I’m not taking many positives out of—at least not yet. It’s back to the drawing board.”
Despite the loss, Askanas said there’s plenty of hope for moving forward. Middle blockers Haley Leifheit and Camille Finley along with outside hitters Villegas and Ally Murphy showed they can be effective and at times dynamic hitters when the offense is running smoothly.
The Balers had a nice result in the season-opening Spikefest I tournament, going 3-2 with their only losses to section power Los Gatos and Mitty, the nation’s sixth-ranked team according to Maxpreps.com.
Noel Chavarria happens to be one of a handful of freshmen who receive significant playing time, meaning the Balers should only improve with each passing match.
“The season in general has been very encouraging,” Askanas said. “The team has a lot of upside. The best is yet to come.”
