Hollister opens up TCAL play with a convincing win over
Gilroy
Gilroy – If you ask San Benito head volleyball coach Dean Askanas about his team’s hitting, he’ll say its becoming more well-rounded.
Senior outside hitter Jamie Temperino, who had several kills against Gilroy Tuesday night, leads the team with over 150 kills so far this season.
But in the TCAL opener for both teams, it was sophomore opposite hitter Emily Kortsen (10 kills) and senior outside hitter Bri Romero (9 kills) leading the Haybaler attack in San Benito’s 25-16, 25-11, 25-16 win on the Mustangs’ court.
“They’re strong and getting better all the time,” said Askanas about his squad, which now sits at 15-2 overall and 1-0 in TCAL with two first place finishes in tournaments under its belt. The latest ‘Baler title was at this weekend’s the Westmont-Saratoga Tourney.
Askanas attributed the ‘Balers strong start to the season to their abundance of athleticism.
“We have a lot of multi-sport athletes,” he said. “They’re exceptionally fast.”
After taking the first game 25-16, San Benito took a 7-6 lead before going on a 11-point run thanks to solid serving by Kortsen.
During that run, Temperino had a pair of kills that she tooled off the hands of Mustang blockers. Junior setter Morgan O’Laughlin also set up junior middle hitter Danielle Scibuola on a nice slide play, where Scibuola swung from the middle to the opposite side for a powerful kill. The Mustangs only scored five points after that before falling 25-11.
“I love the new team,” Kortsen said. “We’re so young but we have a lot of potential.”
In the third game, the ‘Balers jumped out to an insurmountable lead again. Kortsen set the tone for the final game with a hard kill to the middle of the ‘Stangs’ side of the court to make it 2-2. She had two more kills as the ‘Balers capitalized on Gilroy errors to take a 12-5 lead.
Gilroy had a small surge late in the game, when junior outside hitter Kayla Meazell had back-to-back kills – one of which went booming off a San Benito back row player’s shoulder – to make it 12-20.
But Kortsen shut the door, getting three of the ‘Baler’s last five points on kills.
Leading Gilroy (2-10 overall, 0-1 in TCAL) were Meazell and senior outside hitter Jessica Groppe with four kills apiece.
