San Benito gives Live Oak a scare in four games
The San Benito volleyball team has been on fire during the second half of the season. The Haybalers lost to Live Oak 23-25, 26-24,19-25, 25-27 Wednesday evening but didn’t give in, even after several early deficits.
The victory gives the Acorns (23-3, 11-0 TCAL) their second consecutive Tri-County Athletic League title.
San Benito (10-14, 6-5 TCAL) has taken six league matches to five games this season, while Live Oak has had just one match go to five games – at Seaside. Live Oak won the first match against San Benito in three games.
“This one had me a little worried,” said Live Oak coach James Uthes. “Overall, they were much improved. They did an awesome job blocking, and their hitting was much better than the first game.”
Peter Prak and Nathan Thome led the way with seven kills each for the Balers. Thome had six aces as well.
“It was a big game for us,” Thome said. “We had to come out strong after last game against them. We had good team work and unity. Our sets were there. Our hits were there and we were covering well.”
San Benito had a tough time with the Acorns’ height. Six-foot-8 Chris Deem had 15 kills – many of which were on short sets and almost impossible to block
Tomas Rebecchi, at 6-foot-3, was able to come up with a couple key blocks when needed. But on one attempted block, one of Deem’s hits caught Rebecchi in the nose and drew blood. After the timeout, Rebecchi was able to come back.
In the second game, the Balers took a 3-0 lead right away. But that was as close as they could get until Peter Prak came up with a couple big kills late.
San Benito took leads of 20-18 and 24-22, forcing Live Oak to call a timeout each time. Rebecchi had a kill on a short set and then combined with Jeff Hawks for a block to put the game away.
Hawks, as setter, had several one-time touches over the net.
“That was real cheesy,” Uthes said. “We didn’t come here prepared to play that type of game.”
“We felt that we could have won this game,” said Baler coach Henke Mao. “We tried to counter their height by running a quicker offense. We don’t have any excuses.”
The Balers rallied in the first and fourth games, but they just came up short. In the first game, San Benito was down 24-18 before almost sending the game into overtime.
Thome dropped in a couple aces, and Live Oak called a timeout.
After the timeout, the Balers were called for a net violation for the final point.
In the third game, the Balers looked like they had figured Deem out. Rebecchi and Thome combined for a block on him, Rebecchi had a kill through Deem’s hand and then had another block on Deem to get the Balers within 11-8.
Live Oak built up a seven-point lead and was able to hold on for the win.
In the fourth game, San Benito was down by as much as 13-7 before coming back to send the game to overtime.
“That is the way we were trying to play at the start of the year,” Mao said. “Nobody gave up, and everyone hustled.”
