San Benito defeats small Live Oak team in five games
Morgan Hill – Battling injuries and illnesses, the San Benito Haybalers boys volleyball team came into Tuesday night’s match against the Live Oak Acorns looking to get back on track following a three-game non-league loss to Mt. Madonna on Thursday.
The ‘Balers accomplished that goal and the San Benito players pushed through, defeating the scrappy Acorns in five games, 17-25, 25-11, 25-16, 23-25, 18-16, to extend their Tri-County Athletic League winning streak to seven matches.
“It does give you a heart attack to go to five games,” said ‘Baler assistant coach Keith Tungate. “All of the players pushed through injury and sickness. They played with a lot of heart.”
The win helps the ‘Balers keep pace with the Gilroy Mustangs (20-8, 9-1 TCAL) at the top of the TCAL standings.
With just six players on its roster, Live Oak came out and took the first game from San Benito, 25-17. Acorn outside hitter Mike Lucarelli-Cowles and Joel Seiber came up big for Live Oak in the first game, announcing to San Benito that the Acorns weren’t going to roll over so easy.
“I’m just so pleased. This would have been the win of the season if we could have pulled this out,” said Live Oak coach Gayle Yankee. “Having just six players is a real challenge for me and the kids. We have to go out
and play with heart and do the best we can. A lot of this has taken the pressure off of the team because no one expects us to do as well. They did amazingly well tonight.”
The ‘Balers (12-9, 9-1 TCAL) regrouped and took the next two games from the Acorns, 25-11, 25-16, never giving the under-manned squad a chance to get into either game. But Live Oak (6-7, 5-7 TCAL) was still unwilling to bow out and came back to edge out San Benito in the fourth game, 25-23.
With the match tied at two games a piece, the two teams battled in the fifth game, trading points back and forth. The ‘Balers were able to hold off the Acorns, taking the fifth game 18-16 and the match victory.
Despite a nagging ankle injury, senior Jon Crepeau led San Benito with 13 kills, five blocks and three aces in the match. Josh Brown contributed nine kills, four assists, three blocks and one ace and Luis Rosales had six kills and five digs.
“Overall the match went pretty good,” said Rosales, who was battling a knee injury. “We shouldn’t have allowed them to score as many points in the last game. We needed a win. It’s hard to play a five-game match with injuries, especially in the last game. There’s a lot of pain, but you just have to keep going.”
San Benito faces the Palma Chieftains on Monday at home. Palma (9-9, 7-3 TCAL) is the only TCAL team to defeat the ‘Balers so far this season.
“We’re going to have to keep our intensity high and play like we did at the end of this game because Palma is a tough team,” Rosales said.
