Although losing heartbreakers at CCS and the state tourney,
Baler volleyball coach upbeat
Despite losing to Carlmont in the Central Coast Section finals
and then losing last Saturday in the second round of the state
tournament to Liberty High School, San Benito High girls volleyball
coach Dean Askanas has reason to remain upbeat about next
season.
”
We’re already at the top level of play,
”
said the first-year coach.
”
Saying that we are not already there would be a misread. We just
need to keep playing with confidence and believing in our
abilities.
”
Although losing heartbreakers at CCS and the state tourney, Baler volleyball coach upbeat
Despite losing to Carlmont in the Central Coast Section finals and then losing last Saturday in the second round of the state tournament to Liberty High School, San Benito High girls volleyball coach Dean Askanas has reason to remain upbeat about next season.
“We’re already at the top level of play,” said the first-year coach. “Saying that we are not already there would be a misread. We just need to keep playing with confidence and believing in our abilities.”
Askanas was pointing out that the Balers lost the CCS title in game five by a mere two points to the Scots, and then lasted four games with Liberty-a perennial powerhouse Northern California team from Brentwood.
At CCS, the Balers also fought off five match points before succumbing to the Scots. That fact made the loss much more heart breaking but also showed the tenacity that Askanas has been able to instill in his players.
“That CCS game hurt most because our goal this whole year was to win CCS,” Askanas said. “But it was anyone’s game right to the end. Two points the other way and we are the champions. So from that standpoint I think we are already where we need to be.”
And what proves that even more is the fact that No. 4 seed Carlmont was ousted in the opening round of the state tournament by unseeded Foothill High School, while the unseeded Balers beat No. 3 seed Lowell High before falling 25-18, 25-15, 15-25, 25-19 four days later to Liberty.
“On a positive note, anytime you can go undefeated in league (12-0) is a great feat,” said Askanas. “There is good competition in our league. But we were still able to win night after night and we were two points away from achieving our ultimate goal. We hoped to win the Northern California section of the state tournament, but no one from up here will beat the teams from the south in the finals.”
Next year, the Balers will have a tough time repeating their accomplishments of 2005, as they will be losing key seniors Jamie Temperino and Ari Romero.
This season Temperino was second on the team in kills with 367, and led the team in both digs (357) and blocks (46). Temperino also had 45 aces. Romero had 319 digs.
Despite the loses, the Balers will have a number of top performers returning to the lineup next season and should be another favorite to make a run at a CCS title.
One of those players is Chelsea Fowles, who put up a mind-blowing 1,046 assists. To put that in perspective, the team’s second assist getter had 70. Fowles also had 161 kills, 268 digs, 31 blocks, and led the team in aces with 98.
Another player is outside hitter Bri Romero, who was the star of the team last Saturday in the losing effort to Liberty. That night the younger Romero walked off the court with 14 kills.
“She was the strength of our team that night,” Askanas said. “She was confident and played good defense, and the team fed off of that and started to play better as the games went on.”
Unfortunately for the Balers, a lack of confidence or nerves that comes from being in the state tournament paved the way for insurmountable deficits in a number of games against Liberty. In the first game Liberty jumped out to a 12-1 lead before the Balers ignited enough to make a game of it down the stretch.
The Balers also trailed by a wide margin in the second game before regrouping in the third game to pull off the win. Then, in what turned out to be the final game of the night, the Balers fell behind 5-0 early in the fourth game and were never able to recover.
“Liberty was tough – well rounded. They had a lot of good hitters and they could hit from different angles,” Askanas said. “They were good, but they were beatable. They are certainly not the most incredible team that I have ever seen. We just lacked confidence early on. From the second half of the first game, you could see us starting to get more confidence, but we kept playing catch-up the whole night. The team handled the loss well. Last year, they were blown out by Liberty in three games.”
