Kyle Fowles leads San Benito with 16 kills
The San Benito boys volleyball tam likes playing volleyball – and a lot of it.
The Balers played in their sixth five-game match of their league schedule, defeating Gilroy 25-18, 25-20, 22-25, 21-24, 15-13 Wednesday night.
“We showed a lot of hustle today,” said Baler Coach Henke Mao. “We didn’t break down when the game when the game was tight.”
A combination of a hot Baler team and a cold Mustang squad gave San Benito the hope of a short evening.
“We just came out real slow,” said Gilroy coach Craig Martin. “We made way too many errors. It is just a learning process for us.”
Senior Kyle Loving was the big hitter for Gilroy with 16 kills, and senior Angkoon Pothong had seven.
Kyle Fowles, a senior, led the Balers with 16 kills.
“He was really consistent throughout the game,” Mao said. “He didn’t have some of the hitting errors he has had before.”
In the fifth game, San Benito (9-13, 5-4 TCAL) took a 4-1 lead after Peter Prak came up with a power kill, forcing Gilroy to call timeout.
But Gilroy tied the score at seven and forced the Balers to call timeout after Calvin Kretz dropped in a string of his floating serves.
Gilroy took leads of 10-9 and 11-10. But San Benito got a big over-the-net call and used it to gain a little momentum.
Tomas Rebecchi had a big block on Loving for a point. And a little miscommunication allowed a ball to drop on Gilroy’s side between two players to force the Mustangs to call a timeout, down 14-13.
But Hollister was able to close it out after Jake Buzzetta made a lunging save in front of the net to keep the rally alive. And Loving tried to pound a ball down, but it fell just wide.
“We were able to turn it around at the end,” Rebecchi said. “We have a bad habit of not finishing. And we need to break it.”
San Benito gained a little momentum in the first games after several unforced mental errors.
“It seems like we are taking two steps forward and one back instead of three forward and one back,” Martin said. “We’ve had trouble putting together a consistent lineup this year.”
In the second game, San Benito was up 9-3 at one point, but Gilroy came back to tie at 17-17 after a big block by Nick Mason.
But Jeff Hawks served the Balers to a 21-17 lead.
Although the Balers dug a big hole in the third game, they still had a chance to win.
Rebecchi bounced a spike off Kretz to tie the match at 19-19 and draw a Gilroy timeout. After the timeout, the Mustangs responded with a couple quick points to pull away.
“It feels great to get a win against them,” Fowles said. “This is the first time that I have beat them. It was all about team work. Everyone did his job. We kind of gave up a little in the third and fourth games.”
“We didn’t have the energy,” Prak added. “We looked a little dead. Our passing has improved. We just have to keep playing as a team.”
Last time the teams played in Gilroy, Gilroy won in five games.
“They got better, that’s really what it was,” Martin said about the change from the first game to the second game.
