The San Benito Lady ‘Balers compiled a 3-2 record at the Menlo
Invitational last weekend, and tied for second place with host
Menlo and Woodside.
Atherton The San Benito Lady ‘Balers compiled a 3-2 record at the Menlo Invitational last weekend, and tied for second place with host Menlo and Woodside.
It was a round-robin style tournament, where all six teams played each other once, and the team with the best record emerged as the champion. The Harker School in San Jose took the top spot.
“They were excellent,” San Benito coach Dean Askanas said of Harker. “Great defense. Great passing. Just really, really strong. I was very impressed.”
The Lady ‘Balers fell in their fourth match to Harker 16-25, 18-25. Bri Romero had 12 digs and five kills, Justine Hunter added 18 assists and Emily Kortsen provided nine kills and 10 digs.
After Harker, San Benito played their fifth and final match against Woodside, a match that Askanas believed to be the team’s most impressive performance.
San Benito won in three games 17-25, 25-23, 15-10.
“It was really good for us to beat Woodside,” the coach said. “First of all, we’ve never come back when we’ve been behind. It was really good for us to fight a little bit with our back against the wall.”
After falling in the first game 17-25, San Benito trailed Woodside in the second game 9-2 when Askanas called a timeout. The Hollister squad would rebound to edge Woodside in the second game, and went on to nab the third game as well.
“For them to win that match against Woodside was important,” Askanas said. Askanas added that the come-from-behind win against a top team was a welcoming sign, especially this late in the season. “If they’re not going to do it now, when would they do it? But they did it, and that was very encouraging for me.”
Woodside is led by outside hitter Katherine Douglas, who Askanas called one of the strongest hitters in the Central Coast Section. Said the coach, “She’s truly the real deal, and those are the kind of players we need to be playing to get ready.”
Romero had 22 digs, Hunter added 25 assists and Kortsen provided 12 kills against Woodside. Samantha Klauer had 12 digs on defense, Shayna Nakata added 10 digs, while Megan Halstead made five blocks and Ali Sharp served up four aces.
San Benito started the invitational with a 2-0 (25-14, 25-17) win against Sacred Heart Prep in their first match, and a 2-0 (25-21, 25-17) win against Westmont in their third match.
In between, the Lady ‘Balers were delivered a 2-1 loss to Menlo, falling 25-23, 14-25, 10-15.
“We played OK against Menlo,” Askanas said. “I didn’t think we played bad against Menlo, but Menlo was playing particularly well.”
The Lady ‘Balers are 9-0 in the Tri-County Athletic League, 23-9 overall. They’ll return to league play today to host Alisal at 6:30 p.m.
