Victories have been tough to come by this year for the San
Benito High boys volleyball team. But the Haybalers made short work
of visiting Salinas on Tuesday.
Victories have been tough to come by this year for the San Benito High boys volleyball team. But the Haybalers made short work of visiting Salinas on Tuesday.
San Benito cruised to a 25-17, 25-14, 25-15 victory.
“Once we started to execute, we started to play well,” said Baler coach Henke Mao. “We played a little sloppy at the start but tightened up.”
After the Balers (6-9, 3-4 TCAL) came off a five-game victory and a five-game loss in their last two games, Mao said that it was good to have a shorter game.
“We ran a few faster-pace sets,” Mao said. “That helps the team to grow when you run a quicker pace. We didn’t really do that against Palma.”
San Benito was down 10-9 in the first game before pulling ahead for good at 14-11. After the Balers were up 18-12, Salinas got within 19-15 but couldn’t get any closer.
The Balers had nine aces in the win. Kyle Fowles, with his newly added jump serve, knocked in four of the aces.
Jonathan Crepeau kept a couple plays alive for the Balers with pancake hits, where he placed his hand on the floor to keep the ball off the court.
In the second game, San Benito built up a 14-7 lead after three serving rotations, and then also breezed through the third game.
The loss drops Salinas to 0-7 in league.
“They have a lot of height,” Mao said. “They have a good looking team. But with their first-year players, the block is not quite there yet. We played a good game on the defensive side.”
The Balers didn’t have many kill attempts with Salinas’ digging. Peter Prak led the way with six kills. Fowles had five, and Crepeau and Jeff Hawks had three. Hawks also had 19 assists.
“We’re growing, and we’re slowly getting a handle on the things we need to do to get to the next level to compete with the teams that have a better record,” Mao said.
